Hey, Mom, try this! C’mon, Dad, let’s race! It’s gym class for the whole family in Garner.
Gym class has become a family affair this week at a Garner elementary school, where parents and their children are being encouraged to become more physically active.
Bring Your Parent to PE Week at Timber Drive Elementary has brought moms and dads to the school to participate in their children’s physical education class. As families run, jump rope and do jumping jacks, push-ups and other activities together, they’re building connections that Timber Drive physical education teacher Quinn McLaney says can last a hopefully long lifetime.
“The reason Mr. McLaney is a PE teacher is because I want to build healthy lifelong learners and for them to be the best lifelong learners that they can be we’ve got to have parental involvement,” McLaney told parents and students on Thursday.
“I want you to be healthy lifelong learners, as well. So please help me to help your kids and my students to be healthy lifelong learners.”
It’s a message that hit close to the heart of Meg Davis, 37, a parent of two Timber Drive students and the head trainer at Burn Boot Camp in Garner. Davis, who works out at home with her husband and daughters, said parents needs to understand why they should be exercising with their children.
“This is amazing,” Davis said. “I’m so glad that he’s actually doing this. It’s so important being active.”
McLaney said the inspiration came from the annual Take Your Parent To PE Week event (which was in September) organized by Active Schools, a national movement to have students get 60 minutes of physical activity a day in school.
McLaney, who is Timber Drive’s Teacher of the Year, added that this week’s activities tie in with the Wake County school system’s focus on promoting family engagement.
“Getting families involved in the physical activity of their kids and promoting the healthy lifestyle not only in school but outside of school kind of goes along with Wake County Public Schools brand,” he said.
McLaney said he only expected about 50 parents would come. But now he’s thinking 100 parents will have come by Friday, which would be about 25 percent of the school’s parents.
Parents arrived in the gym to find seven activity stations designed along the theme of blood traveling through the body to make the heart healthy. The different activities go along with the American Heart Association’s Kids Heart Challenge, which has students learn about how to keep their hearts healthy as they raise money for the association.
Parents and students raced through the seven drills as different songs played in the background.
“It was fun because I like working out with my mom,” said Emerson Davis, 6, a first-grade student and daughter of Meg Davis.
Kentrell Perry, 32, raced to keep up with his 6-year-old daughter Aubri. His youngest child, Autumn, 2, was with him as she tried to exercise with her big sister. Perry said activities like Bring Your Parent to PE are important for staying active in your child’s education.
“It was good,” Perry said. “We were able to move around, to build relationships and to meet her teachers.”
This story was originally published November 29, 2018 at 4:49 PM.
