How to workout while wearing boots

 

Ashely Sollenberger is a an elementary physical education teacher, who prides himself in teaching students  the joys of fitness through movement and games with a touch of magic. He’s also my brother, and will be writing to share his observations and thoughts on teaching. 

 

At the first hint of cold or snow, boots will begin to appear in all shapes and sizes, Working boots, hiking boots, fuzzy boots, sparkly boots, and my personal favorite big tall rubber boots that inspire memories of fishing trips.

One of the great things of about elementary school is that students, especially in the primary grades, can and do get away with wearing anything. I see these boots and I wonder what the kids were thinking when they put them on in the morning?

Do they hope that just this once they are going to be allowed outside into the snow?

In our school, snow is treated as something only slightly less dangerous then darting across highways. Students are instructed that snow belongs on the ground; don’t pick it up, at school, on the way to school, on the way home from school or at any time when one might have to attend school within the next 24 hours. Snow is a serious offense! Yet, despite the strict eversion to ice crystals, students wear their boots to school in droves.

At this point you’re probably thinking, ‘well maybe the students are concerned about cold feet at recess.’ Don’t kid yourself, cold air is sure to spread germs faster than high fiving the nose picker that sits next to you in class, cold air is to be avoided at all costs.

If it’s cold enough for snow to be on the ground then it’s too cold to be outside. Frankly, I’m surprised we have not yet had a two hour delay because of cold morning temperatures (since this was written we have not only delayed school, but completely closed due to temperature). So what are they thinking? Surely at this point, I don’t know.

Boots are often built with high ankle coverage and as anyone who has worn sneakers in the snow would know, this helps prevent snow from getting in the boot; the cost of this benefit is that the boots are more difficult to put on. Many kids have trouble putting on a low cut sneaker, so the wrestling, fighting, tugging, and pulling necessary to getting a squirrely 7 year old into boots must be so strenuous that I’m sure it appears in some adults’ workout logs.

Sample entry January 10 2014:

17 minutes getting on the right boot, 14 minutes for the left, 31 minutes total, average heart rate 145.

Interestingly, these boots come off like they have been greased with butter, a kid runs across the gym, bam, boot goes flying.

No one touched him, no one even fell. It just spontaneously flew off the foot. I should note here, that this spontaneous boot ejection is just as likely to cause a multi student pile up.

Students take this in perfect stride, once I’ve untangled the arms and legs and asked if everyone is alright, students respond quite calmly that, ‘yeah, we’re fine David’s boot just fell off.’ Neither occurrence is uncommon.

Now Mr. Sollenberger gets to make yet another unplanned entry into his workout log. Sometimes, the kids take them off just because they can. This is not to be misconstrued as something cute, like presenting me with dandelions, or ‘neat’ pieces of gravel they found on the sidewalk. Those things are cute and endearing. Voluntarily removing their boots is a dirty little trick.

Proudly they proclaim, look Mr. Sollenberger, I took off the boot all by myself…can you help me put it back on?

Some students at least take it off with a purpose, thinking surely I want to see their latest cartoon sock. Heaven forbid if this occurs in the afternoon, this student’s foot hasn’t been in an environment below 70 degrees in hours, the sock could serve to keep him hydrated should he get lost in the woods on the way home from school.

Now, the clever kids just wear their boots for the trip to school, they remember to bring sneakers for their time in the gym. At first glance this seems like a great forward thinking idea, except this is a process akin to building the Great Wall of China, boots come off, and shoes go on the wrong foot. Ops, shoes back off, switch and back on again, of course now at least one shoe has the tongue jammed down at the toes so it needs to come back off again.

Finally, shoes are on and the tying process begins. Many kids can tie their own shoes, but you can bet your paycheck that if the kid has worn boots to school he’s not someone who can tie (maybe that is the reason they wear their boots). Watching these boot wearers tie is like watching someone tie while wearing mittens, after a few moments of watching the students work at sloth speed I wonder over to offer assistance.

To no one’s surprise both shoes are tied in knots that would make any sailor proud. No one is really sure how this happens, but it is a law of nature, much like gravity and the speed of light. I now have the joy of picking and pulling at the laces for several more minutes, which of course, is added to my workout time from earlier. The knots are always exceedingly tight due to the fact that all kids, when faced with a knot resort to pulling on the ends of the lace, while pushing with their leg in the opposite direction, as if in an epic tug-o-war battle. By the time the boots are off and the shoes are finally on and ready, class is well under way.

I always want to ask them if it is really worth the effort, but I don’t because I know that in their mind the answer is a resounding yes.

Kids love their boots, they are like portals to the magical world of story books, where snow is nothing but snowmen, forts, snowball battles, and sledding, finished up with a cup of hot chocolate and a seat by the fire.

So I guess I really do know why they wear their boots and some days I wish I wore mine too.