Anyone up for a game of muckle?

I was telling my daughter about what recess and gym class during elementary school was like when I was growing up:

• Square dancing. Why did we have to take square dancing? (Answer: Because Henry Ford hated jazz and insisted it was a corrupting influence on American youth, so he spent the equivalent of millions today to promote square dancing in schools as an alternative.)

• Limited water intake. Today’s kids are hydrated; we were not. In fact, I recall after running around during gym class and kids lining up for short sips of water from the “bubbla” while the gym teacher controlled the faucet.

• Pure mayhem. I grew up in a nice little suburb, but there were fights almost every single day at recess. On the days without orchestrated violence, we played a game called “muckle,” which was sort of like soccer except you could tackle people and use your hands. Also, we played on hard packed dirt—sometimes asphalt.

I will say however, that we did at least have recess, day after day, almost rain or shine, blizzard or naught.

Which is why I was surprised to learn after a — what, 40 year? — absence from paying much attention to elementary schools, that in many places there has been a long recess in the practice of actually having recess.

Imagine this, but it’s kids, and they’re playing on asphalt.

Think about it: Many of us spend hours each sitting at work. Science says it’s killing us, and we have developed all kinds of fads to combat it–from standing desks to smartphone alerts to get us up and moving.

Armed with that knowledge, however, what do we force our kids to do each day at school? Sit still, for six or eight hours.

Some researchers say that mistake leads us into a three-pronged, perfect storm of problems:

1. We overprotect kids, trying to keep them safe from all physical dangers–which ultimately increases their likelihood of real health issues.

2. We inhibit children’s academic growth (especially among boys), because the lack of physical activity makes it harder for them to concentrate.

3. When they fail to conform quietly to this low-energy paradigm, we over-diagnose or even punish kids for reacting the way they’re naturally built to react.

Start with the boys. Often they seem like they’re in a constant state of motion: running, jumping, fighting, playing, getting hurt–maybe getting upset–and getting right back into the physical action.

Except at school, where they’re required to sit still for long periods of time.

And when they fail to stay still, how are they punished? Often by being forced to skip recess.

Thus, they sit still longer, perhaps perpetuating the problem.

It’s not just an American issue. Researchers at the University of Eastern Finland tried to document whether boys actually achieve less in school when they’re restricted from running around and being physically active.

They studied 153 kids, aged 6 to 8, and tracked how much physical activity and sedentary time they had during the day. Sure enough, the less “moderate to vigorous physical activity” the boys had each day, the harder it was for them to develop good reading skills.

In this study, anyway, the results didn’t apply to girls.

I know that sounds sexist; the researchers offered a few possible explanations. Maybe there simply are physiological differences--or maybe the girls were just as eager to move around as the boys, but they were better able to set aside that disappointment and concentrate.

And for that reason, other researchers say, girls are rewarded more than boys in the classroom.

“Girl behavior is the gold standard in schools,” says psychologist Michael Thompson. “Boys are treated like defective girls.”

Angela Hanscom, a pediatric occupational therapist, interviewed young kids to ask them what recess and play are like in the second decade of the 21st century. Their descriptions sound like a dystopian vision of a scaredy-cat future:

• “We have monkey bars, but we aren’t allowed to go upside down on them. They think we are going to hurt ourselves. I think I’m old enough to try going upside down.”

• “We have woods, but can’t go anywhere near them. It’s too dangerous.”

• “When it snows, we can’t touch it with our foot, or we have to stand by the teacher for the rest of recess.”

Restricting kids’ movement like this leads them to increased anger and frustration, less ability to regulate emotions, and higher aggressiveness during the limited times they are allowed to play, Hanscom writes:

“Elementary children need at least three hours of active free play a day to maintain good health and wellness. Currently, they are only getting a fraction.”

Another big adversary, according to these advocates? Standardized testing, because the time required to prepare for and take tests has to come from somewhere.

(“When we have standardized testing, we don’t get recess,” said one of the students Hansom interviewed. “The teachers give us chewing gum to help us concentrate on those days.”)

There is also simple inertia. It’s much easier to control a classroom in which the kids have to sit quietly than one where you allow for a little bit of managed chaos. Nobody judges teachers by whether they gave kids enough recess during the day.

Has there been progress? Yes, absolutely.

But, until schools figure out how to incorporate lots of movement and play into their schedules, it will be up to parents to compensate.

So set a good example with your own physical activity, and maybe side with your son (or daughter) if he or she gets in trouble for moving too much at school.

Hanscom reminds us of the stakes: “In order for children to learn, they need to be able to pay attention. In order for them to pay attention, we need to let them move.”

In the meantime, anyone up for a game of muckle? Better than square dancing, anyway.

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7 other things worth knowing today

• President Trump has two big crypto-focused dinners coming up, one aimed at deep-pocketed political donors, the other at meme coin millionaires. Event #1 is $1.5 million-per-plate fundraiser next Monday. Event #2 May 22, is for the top 220 holders of the $TRUMP token, with an active leaderboard displaying the usernames/pseudonyms of the coin’s top buyers competing to buy enough to be included. $TRUMP, which the president launched just before his Jan. 20 inauguration, has a current market cap of about $2.25 billion. (CNBC, CoinMarketCap)

• About 5 million defaulted student-loan borrowers started going into collections yesterday under a new policy, with the U.S. government threatening to confiscate their wages, tax refunds and federal benefits. Millions more are on the cusp of default, according to the U.S. Department of Education. (WSJ)

• Should public schools collect immigration status data on all students and turn it over to the federal government? Oklahoma's schools chief wants to do it, but the state's governor is fighting him. (CBS News)

• U.S. border towns are being ravaged by Canada’s furious boycott: Economically dependent on their northern neighbor, business owners in Washington state are laying off employees and shutting their doors. (Bloomberg)

• Top French chefs are warming to the idea of using artificial intelligence in the kitchen. "Everyone's discussing AI. I was at a table of 12 other chefs and it was the main thing we talked about," said a top chef at the annual gathering of France's finest chefs for the Michelin Guide awards. (AFP)

• Nobody loads a dishwasher as well as someone who has worked in a restaurant. Back to front is the only way — ask me how I know. (Food & Wine)

• Trend alert: Has your child suddenly started yelling "ballerina cappuccina" in a cartoon accent or calling their sibling a "champanzine banananie?" You're witnessing the latest case of internet-fueled nonsense that's completely taken over kid and tween brains: a trend aptly known as "Italian Brainrot." (Parents)

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Thanks for reading. Photo by Quino Al on Unsplash. I wrote about some of this before at Inc.com. See you in the comments.