Running Laps
Fifth grade.
Anders’s fifth grade teacher has a style that would have appealed to my father.
Everything I know about the early 1970’s is related to Albuquerque. My parents, post-college, taught at a Lutheran school there. They would talk about it occasionally. They took us there once.
What was life like in Albuquerque in the early 1970’s, according to my single point of reference?
There was no money. Not on account of Albuquerque, just on account of being Lutheran school teachers.
Their only furniture was a folding table. If I ran for office, this would be part of my hardscrabble origin tale: ‘his parents lived in a church parsonage, their only furniture the donated folding table’. I’ve heard about this folding table my entire life. If I ever find out there was a single additional piece of furniture in that house…
It was hot. On account of Albuquerque.
A big Friday was pizza and six pack. I can no longer recall the price for this, but it was quoted frequently. Much like 1950s Seattle bus fare and movie ticket pricing, the number seemed to decline in each re-telling. Or maybe that’s how inflation works.
A big meal out was at a restaurant called Pancho’s, which was a buffet, but you reordered food by raising a flag to have it delivered to your table. According to the Googles it no longer exists in Albuquerque, but there are still other locations. I ate there. It was amazing.
The rules governing discipline techniques for teachers were, shall we say, flexible.
Only number six is relevant to this post, but I hope you enjoyed the jogging of my memory.
My dad played football, baseball and basketball in college. He was generally athletic. He taught middle school students. Middle school students, in all decades are the worst.
When he needed to burn some energy off of the boys, he’d have them play dodge ball. And he’d participate.
He also coached sports. Based on my personal experiences, I suspect a lot of laps were run by his players.
The man recognized that the best way to deal with boys under 18 was to exhaust them (and occasionally rifle a red rubber ball into their faces). Ed note: also effective for boys over 18.
Anders’s fifth grade teacher seems to share this recognition.
At pick up on the end of his first day of school, Anders walked towards us with a big smile and fully flushed face.
“Was PE at the end of the day?”
“No - we played a game on the field!”
Well, that seems like good team building.
They did another activity at the end of the second day.
On the third day the activity had a title and the loosest description, but sounded suspiciously like running laps.
Anders has been thrilled. Anders’s parents have been thrilled.
Running laps is a concept with which Anders has become familiar in the last six months.
He’s discovered he likes playing video games. We wanted to make sure it was paired with physical activity. Almost as a joke I suggested he needed to run a lap or bike three laps of our neighborhood to earn an hour of game time (it is about a half a mile).
We assumed this would happen once or twice before he pushed back. Six months later, it is still working. We’ve also added a push-up / sit-up combo for 30 minutes and he can substitute Peloton rides to counter inclement weather. When we’re at the pool he can also earn time for lap swim reps. But he mostly chooses the neighborhood laps.
Maybe we conditioned him for his teacher.