Oh Goldhills, you echo my sentiments exactly! I am dreading the Commonwealth Games because there will probably be nothing decent to watch for 2 weeks. I'm afraid there is very little sport that I enjoy watching. Oh well, theres always this forum! LOL.
Cheers,
Dee.

The commonwealth games was what made me think of it as my shows are repeats for the next couple of weeks. I don't mind watching half hour of highlights but I can't stand sitting there for hours.

Ditto - may the games hurry up and finish

Well as usual I am the odd one out. I like nothing better than settling back in my recliner WATCHING OTHER PEOPLE EXCERCISE. Specially with a cup of coffee and a piece of chocolate cake.

You can exercise with a cup of coffee and a piece of chocolate cake? How? Count me in!

Hmmmph good one Sparaxis! Havent you heard of the new
,,Commonwealth Games event,the chocolate cake marathon!

How to exercise with a piece of chocolate cake...
1)take small bites to increase the number of arm raises required.
2) chew well
3)cut small pieces so that you need to walk back to the kitchen frequently to replenish
4) walk from car to shop in order to purchase the aforsaid cake (notice I did not say walk to shop...lets not get extreme here!)
5)press remote control in order to excercise finger during commercials.
6) bending from the knees place used implements in dishwasher.

See before you know it you have expended more energy than you take in by eating the cake.
So eating chocolate cake actually helps you lose weight!!!

So that is why I'm putting on weight. It's because I don't eat the right thing when 'exercising' in front of the tv. I prefer a chocolate bar (Time Out is my favourite). Maybe I'm not sitting there long enough or is because I can't wrestle the remote off my husband. :)

Once upon a far off time, tv stations used to compete for an audience by putting on 2 high-rating shows at the same time, now they just seem to work together. Are they all secretly owned by the one company? ;)

What is different on TV? Just the usual load of inane sitcoms and pot boilers.
If we lived in an environment depicted by "Neighbours" or "Home & Away" where we have murder robbery divorce and you name it all happening to 6 or so families it's enough to make one sit in the bath with a razor blade screaming "Stop the world I wanna get off".
Deejaus says nothing for 2 weeks. I didn't think there is anything to watch, period! LOL

Oops sorry "Life in the Undergrowth" wasn't bad.

Now if we had a thread on what I don't like on TV or "How to numb your mind" this forum would probably bog down and grind to a stop. ROFLOL

Doug.

I've always wondered how so many bad things can happen to just a few families. I don't let my kids watch shows like Home & Away or Neighbours as I don't think the content is suitable for children and sets a bad example. Kids think these happenings are 'normal'. The same for 'reality shows' - just shows kids the worst in people and makes the kids think this is 'normal'. If they have to have these shows on they should be on at a time children aren't watching.

How about some shows that show people working together to achieve something good.

Am I a TV snob? Yes! One of my proudest boasts is that I have never watched an episode of Neighbours or Home and Away...and before you say 'then how do you know they are bad? I just Do.

Just thinking about shows about people working together to achieve something good. I don't usually watch Backyard Blitz and similar shows, though the kids do sometimes, and I the ones that I have seen, I rarely like the design and usually pick it to bits, but it least it does show people helping others. I especially like it when they select someone really deserving.

Just watching the ads for H & A and Neighbours soon tells you what terrilble shows they are. Same goes for any soapie but usually the others are on at a time kids don't watch.

She Who Must Be Obeyed demanded we get pay tv (I hated the thought of paying for ads) but she gets what she wants to watch and I get the rugby (union) and football (soccer)

As for the commonwealth games I switched over to channel nine (or is it Win up here?) for the first time in nearly two years. After putting up with nearly five minutes of adverts I found they still have the same screaming comentators they had years ago - and that's as far as I got.

Haven't seen the games and am not likely to - unless they show repeats of the rugby sevens....

Well if you are not watching the games you are missing out on a treat. Anyone who fails to be inspired by the 38 year old mother of 2 who just defended her title in the Commonwealth games marathon has a heart of stone.! Hrmmmph!!

Cool - I have a stone heart! Tell me, is she 'special' because she had two kids, or because she is 38? (Actually, I'm not really interested is knowing...) I just hate to see all that energy go to waste on somthing so totally useless, like running in circles, when they could be doing something great, like creating a garden!

Sport has a lot to teach us...self disipline mental toughness, resilience it really does help to develope character. And it is good for us (of course gardening is too)

I get annoyed when I hear people go on about alcohol, smoking, obesity, etc (I know they aren't good) and how much it is costing us in medical bills, etc but no-one ever says anything about sporting injuries and how many hospital beds they take up. Not just talking about the games but sport in general. How many people take Monday off work after a weekend of playing footy because of injuries, how many kids end up with lifelong injuries because of competitive sports (my husband for one - played football as a kid because his father wanted him to, did his knee in his first game and now will need a full knee reconstruction eventually)? Then there is the violence and fighting in sports - I thought they were supposed to be having fun.

If the powers that be pick on one thing they should pick on all. Yes sports might keep you fit but there are plenty of better ways, and yes people get hurt gardening but that is generally an accident or someone just being careless. One of my favourite sayings is "Play games, not sport"

Sorry about the rave but I just get sick of seeing kids pushed into competition and not enjoying life as a kid should.

No one is talking about pushing kids into sport to the extent that they have injuries...and I guess you have to balance a day off work with the long term improvement in cardio vascular fitness.
I would certainly rather have my kids participate in sport than be stuck inside playing computer gemes.
Alcohol smoking obesity vs sports injuries
Hmmm thats a hard one.
How many people take monday off work because of a hangover?
You dont have to play sport if you dont want to , of course you can get all the excercise you need walking the dog gardening etc and you dont have to play sport at a competitve level to get the benefit from it.
But I like to pay credit where it is due and I respect the dedication and sheer hard work that some of these athletes have put in to achieve their dream.
I personally am not a competitive person but realistically , the world is a competive place and I think sport can add something to the breadth of my kids
developement.
BTW I am shocking at sport myself.
I think it is great when some of our fantastic scientists are awarded Australian of the Year. This is well deserved but I think it isa reverse snobbishness not to acknowledge the equally impressive efforts of our sportsmen and women.

I know this is getting of the subject but a couple of years ago I had to do some reseach on sports injuries. I have copied, below, some of an article I found at that time. This is a couple of years old so I don't know how it is now.

"Sports Injuries and treatment  the facts:
The latest data extrapolated by the NSW Injury Management Research Centre, combined with methodology developed in a Latrobe Valley sport and injury study2, demonstrates the extent of sports injuries across Australia  more than 5.2 million injuries each year. Of this, a massive 3,612,240 go untreated.
24,912 hospital admissions*
249,120 emergency department presentations
298,944 general practice (doctor) visits
1,021,392 treated injuries (not by doctor)**
3,612,240 injuries that do not receive/require treatment

Sports injuries are estimated to cost the Australian community more than $1.83 billion annually.
5.2 million sports injuries are incurred in Australia every year.
The football codes account for more injuries than any other sport.
10% of survey respondents were injured participating in a sporting activity in the past year, while 16% have been injured over the past two years.
15% of workers who have suffered a sports injury have had to take time off work, at an average of nearly nine days injury leave.
Fewer than six in 10 Australians participating in sport

* National injury hospitalisations for all ages ÂWhile engaged in sports activityÂ:
From Helps Y, Cripps R, Harrison J 2002. Hospital separations due to injury and poisoning, Australia 1999Â00. Injury Research and Statistics Series Number 15.
Adelaide: AIHW (AIHW cat. no. INJCAT 48).
** treatment by other health professionals.
2 The proportion of sport and active recreation injuries treated are derived from Finch, C., Cassell, E. and Stathakis, V. The Epidemiology of sport and active recreation in the Latrobe Valley. MUARC report no. 151, figure 3, pg 49."
*******

I know we can't really compare alcohol, etc to sports injuries, I just think kids shouldn't be pushed into competitive sports, for some kids it may be ok but others it isn't. It has also been linked to increased violence amongst children. Take out the 'win at all costs' attitude that you see every weekend in both adult and childrens games. We need more fun social events for the kids without the competition. They get enough of that when they are older in the business world.

Well who said that kids should be pushed into competitive sports. Please reread my post."sport has also been linked to increased violence amongst children..."What about violence on television ,

computer games?
Kids dont need to play less sport they just need parents who are prepared to spend the time teaching them values.
If they are learning the 'take em out at any cost mentality from their parents reducing sport will just mean

the attitude finds another outlet.

Australian kids in general are far less fit than they were 30 years ago
Schools all over the country are combating that by encouraging physical activity of all kinds.(not just competitive sport but walking tree ;planting etc. If we dont encourage our kids to become more active watch the age of onset for diabetes plummet., and furthewr we are talking heart disease at younger and younger ages.
If you really want me to I will dig up the figures for smoking alcohol and weight related hospital admissions.

Goldhills, it's OK to dislike sport, you don't need to dig up a whole lot of data about why it might be dangerous. I'm sure non gardeneners could find plenty of facts on how dangerous trees can be. We've all heard those who say they can't grow anything where they live because it's too hot/cold/wet/dry or windy. We know the truth, and that is they just hate gardening and/or can't be bothered finding out how to overcome the problems.
It's the same with people who don't like dogs: They'll tell you that dogs can be dangerous, noisy, make a mess etc, etc. But the truth is they just don't like them and/or don't want the responsibility of looking after one. Of course those of us who have a "best friend" know they don't know what they're missing.

I'm not saying that kids shouldn't get outside and exercise and I'm all for non-competitive activities to achieve this. I know that city kids haven't got the room to play anymore and sit in front of the tv too much but there should be a choice of social activities for the kids.

You yourself are saying similar things - schools encouraging physical activities, walking the dog, etc - we both agree with that. I just don't like competitive sports, I just want to see our kids be kids and have fun without the pressure. You may not push your kids and there are plenty of good parents like that but many do push, just stand on the sidelines and listen to some of the parents. Competitive sports are shoved into our faces all the time on tv, even half the news is sports.

Originally I was just saying how much sports injuries are costing us. When I was working I got sick of doing someone elses job for them because they sprained an ankle or whatever at the footy (yes I know we can sprain our ankle doing gardening or even just walking, and dogs can bite). Then there is trying to get in to see a doctor on a Monday to find there isn't any appointments available because of weekend sporting injuries. (I have a friend who is a medical receptionist and they try to keep a few appointments on Mondays clear because of weekend injuries).

If you read my posts you will see I am not saying smoking, alcohol, obesity is good for you, I know they aren't (I also know these statistics as it was part of the study I did).

Dont ban competitive sports because some parents are misguided and pushy...(thats like banning icecream because some people eat too much)
those parents need help.
If we go back to your opening post GH you said you couldnt stand watching people running around an oval. Thats OK you hate sport.You are entitled .
You also got sick of doing someone elses job for them when they had a sporting injury (that is an employer related question) so you were peeved , youre entitled.
I like to watch sport. Im entitled too. Somebody besides me must enjoy watching it else they would stop broadcasting.
Dont you have any admiration for the hours spent training, trhe pain endured to get good at something that is their passion ?
I maintain that participating in sport teaches and developes a lot more than muscles.
Teamwork
resilience
self disipline
a positive attitude.

These attributes are very useful life skills to have.Yes even competition. Of course children need to have a supportive parent there and not a pushy one.Kids also need to learn how to lose (to do it gracefully and to learn from it.)
For anyone to get to world standard in anything ( science sport or the arts) requires hard work and dedication and I applaud our sportsmen and women.

I found this thread very interesting indeed. I thought I would put in my three pennies worth. I think all sport is competitive because people play sport to win. Kids do too, trust me, without any adult supervision or input as far as organisation of games is concerned, this is one point and I will explain... I come from a country in the middle of Europe and we did not have (I know as fact that many kids there still don't) any organised sport, we played in the streets, on empty blocks, no beautiful green sporting fields that children have here. It was easy to organise a game as most of the people lived in apartment block so there were plenty of kids to get two teams together for football or any other games. I remeber my brothers and 20 years later my young son being called by their mates for a game, the kids wanted to win at all costs... and no, the adults were not included.

And I do not buy the notion that kids in the cities in Australia have no place to play sport, look at kids from Africa or South America, they play wherever there is space and I saw the same thing in Europe, not only in the country of my birth but also in Great Britain, France and Spain.

However, I agree that the children should have their own driving force to play and win, without any pressure from their adult significant others... but that applies to everything in life, finding a career, finding a partner etc... as manny parents try to pressure their children to fulfill their personal ambitions.

And as for repeats, our TV programs are getting worse bythe minute, all the better programs are on pay TV, in a way it appears it is done on purpose to force more people to buy.

I guess it depends on your definition of sport. In primitive societies villagers and clan members fought against groups from other clans and villages, for their rights over land, shelter, food, etc as a life and death option. Early organised sports (and also early board games) were simply an imitation of battle, and an outlet for headstrong boys and men to let off steam. Increasingly rules were imposed to prevent death and later injury, as well as to determine the victor. Such organised team sport is always going to have a strong competetive and aggressive element, but not all children or adults seek to participate in such sports.
There are many sports such as cycling, golf, jogging walking, horse riding, swimming, dance, etc, where the participants seek health and fitness and a sense of personal achievement without wanting to win, or show aggression. These activities do not lend themselves well to telecasting, as the couch potatoes who sit at home generally look forward to a display of aggression and feel the need to exhibit their own aggression in taking sides.
My personal favourite sport is gardening, and I really don't mind that there are so many repeats on telly because i don't watch it. I watch the occasional movie but usually lose track because my nose is in a good book or I am involved in finger sports - knitting, embroidery, etc. Life is too short to worry about what's on the box.

I don't necessarily mean ban competitive sports and if adults want to play that is up to them, kids should have an option to play social sports. I wanted to play volleyball when I was a teenager (it was one of the few sports that I was good at) but the only way to play was joining a volleyball club. I went once and in 2 hours we had 10 minutes of actual playing, the rest was training. I just wanted to play for fun, have friendly games against each other. I had the same trouble when my eldest daughter wanted to play a sport, we couldn't find any social type sport for kids, it was all training and competition.

It isn't so much that I hate sport but there is more to life than sport. During summer holidays, my kids spend most of the time outdoors playing but prefer (as I do) to come inside during the hottest part of the day and watch tv or something for an hour or so but there isn't anything on except sport to watch. A few kids programs at that time would be great after all we are always being told to stay out of the sun in the hottest part of the day.

If sportspeople want to half kill themselves training they can, and they are dedicated and it does teach self-discipline, but I object to paying their medical bills or waiting for a hospital bed when they suffer one of their regular injuries. And I feel sorry for the kids spending hours after school training for something that is over by the time their out of their teens and their joints have had it.

What Meggs says about children playing is right, let the kids organise their own games. Let the kids have an option of the less aggressive sports at their own pace.

Below is an excerpt from a book my SIL showed me a few years ago. I don't know what the book is but my SIL was studying child psychiatry.

"Children rarely trouble to keep scores, little significance is attached to who wins or loses, they do not require the stimulus of prizes, it does not seem to worry them if the game is not finished.
Indeed, children like games in which there is a sizeable element of luck, so that individual abilities cannot be directly compared.
They like games which restart automatically, so that everybody is given a new chance."

And a quote from the same book.

"How children consider success & failure

Failure is failing to please an adult
Success is pleasing an adult"

It is so easy to assume our kids like to play a sport, but do they really like it or are they just trying to please us.

Just let our kids be kids, they grow up too fast as it is.

"as the couch potatoes who sit at home generally look forward to a display of aggression and feel the need to exhibit their own aggression in taking sides "...This is a big judgment to make Sparaxis.

"it does teach self-discipline, but I object to paying their medical bills or waiting for a hospital bed when they suffer one of their regular injuries. " It seems we are just saying the same thing ad nauseum. We have medicare and people who attend public hospitals and who pass a means test get their treatment paid for .FULL STOP!
GHs do you wish to sit in judgment and decide who should receive treatment and who should not. You may say that sports injuries are self inflicted, as I have oft repeated many diseaseas are also self inflicted by people who choose to smoke drink overeat take drugs drive drunk etc.
Should they get care too , do you object to paying for their treatment.
1)we have medicare
2) if you pay taxes you contribute to medicare
3)people who need treatment are not judged(with treatment reserved for the deserving)

GHs you dont like sport but mainly you are peeved because the sport is on and you want to watch you TV programs.
I am not similarly bothered because I rarely watch TV generally prefering to read.
Cheer up you will have your TV back next week and you can watch to your hearts content.
All people who like to watch the Com games are not aggressive yobbos. My daughter has just given 100 hours as a volunteer at these games and we have put in much transport time to support her. We do it gladly it helps us feel part of the community.
Like me she is a very bookish person and sucks a t sport, she and I are however still able to appreciate the dedication and hard work that athletes put in tp achieve their dreams.
So am I sorry you had to give up your soaps for 2 weeks?
not one bit.

I do like sport, I've played golf, tennis, volleyball, I ride horses, go swimming, etc but for fun, I don't like competitive sports when winning is everything. It shouldn't matter who wins or loses, it is having fun and learning to work together and support each other. I am more impressed by the person who stops to help someone who has fallen than the one who wins. I think that is more important - caring for others.

"We have medicare and people who attend public hospitals and who pass a means test get their treatment paid for .FULL STOP!"
Yes if you're prepared to wait years for a hospital bed.
We have private medical insurance (which we can't afford) so we don't have to wait 3 - 5 yrs or more in pain for a hospital bed. It doesn't matter whether it is self-inflicted from drugs, etc or sports, it is still self-inflicted and avoidable in many cases. Yes they do deserve treatment but so do people who are sick or injured by accidents that aren't preventable.

What I was mainly saying in the first place is why do other stations have to play repeats when these other shows are on. I am not just talking about the com games, but football, etc. Putting the games on is fine and people can watch if they want, it is the other stations I'm talking about. Not everybody watches the games or footy or whatever. I just can't see why other stations have to put on repeats, I thought they were rivals and supposed to vie for viewers. We thought about pay tv once but we don't watch enough to make it worthwhile and would've had to pay for a sports station which we don't want anyway.

If you read down further you would see that I don't sit in front of the tv much but, like all of us occasionally I like to watch something to relax. Some nights when we aren't working on the books and when the kids are in bed, my husband and I like to cuddle up together and watch something interesting on tv (no, not that sort of thing either).

You would also have read that I don't like soaps, reality or romance shows and never watch them. I read alot, much more than the average person - it only takes me an hour or 2 to read an average 2-300page novel, but we don't read all the time and after spending several hours helping with homework, doing bookwork, etc the last thing we feel like doing is more reading. Surely we are entitled to watch tv too.

Good on the volunteers, if that is what they want to do that is fine. Congratulations to your daughter for giving up her time, you have obviously thought that I have been insulting her, I haven't. I haven't been personally insulting to you or your family at all. My kids (8yrs, 10yrs, 12ys) volunteer a lot too and I spend a lot of travel time as well as we live out of town. They mainly help at the school - working in the library, garden, etc giving up their lunchtimes, after school time, etc but also other things on weekends helping others - they don't have to and we don't ask them to, they volunteer. No I don't stop them...

Well GHS it seems that you dislike many things in our society....If you have health insurance then you dont have to worry about all those undeserving sportspeople pinching your spot.
(BTW we have health insurance too)
You also dont like our free enterprise system. The other TV stations screen reruns because they know that most people will be watching tha major sport events. You r

anecdotal 'eveidence' that your friends husband is the

only one who watches sport and the rest of the family miss
out would just not cut it with the advertising execs. They
know differently.

All right you picked up on an inaccuracy I said you were missing out on your soaps whereas you said.....
"don't watch many shows on tv but do have a couple of favourites and get annoyed when I sit down to watch them to find it is a repeat because there is, supposedly, a high rating show on the other station"
So change my last post to am "I am not sorry you had to give up your favourite TV shows."
If your children are playing in championships then they are not just playing for fun and perhaps do not share your views.
No I dont think you insulted my daughter etc, you have misinterpreted me. My point was that non aggressive non sporting people can and do appreciate the effort and committment of our sportsmen and women just as we do for high achievers in the arts and sciences.
This post started out in a fairly light hearted manner and I was just hoping to have some pleasant exchanges (with a few jokes about eating chocolate cake etc) However it seems to be taking a turn for the worse and I have no intention of spending anymore time carrying on a long distance argument. I think we have both said all we want to ands I am weary of all the repetition, and whinges.
As Jan said life is too short to worry about whats on the box and I am sorry I got sucked in .It wont happen again.
I wont post anymore on this thread so feel free to have the last word. cheers bespecticled, bookish ,sport loving pam

Just one point I want to make clear about the championship my son played in - he was having a friendly game at school and was asked by the coach to play, when he said he didn't really want to, was made to feel guilty about letting down the team. He knows he didn't have to play but he felt he should and I gave him the option.

I'm sick of this debate too, I know how I feel and I know several others who feel the same way. You have the right to feel the way you do, I have the same. It is very hard to get what was meant to be said in the right context when writing and I think this was taken the wrong way or exaggerated several times. I'm sorry if I upset you in anyway but it still doesn't change how I feel.

Pam - there is a vast difference between volunteering 100 hours at the games, and sitting down watching sport on TV! I think I would even watch some of the games if anyone here had turned them on, but I don't think I have pressed the on button on a TV for months. If it goes on it is my hubby doing the finger work.
Judgemental? Nah - I don't take myself seriously enough for that. Or anyone else for that matter. Just opinionated, and happy to be proven wrong.
I am sure the channels know their viewers quite well, and there is little point showing high ratings material when they are going to lose viewers to the CWG's. Anyway - someone said TV programs are getting worse and worse, SO - maybe repeats would be preferable?

GH - you quoted:-"How children consider success & failure
Failure is failing to please an adult
Success is pleasing an adult"

All I can say is, always question everything you read! Children are motivated in a number of ways, they are not all the same. They also learn in a number of different ways. Having studied the psychology of teaching, and experienced the difference in kids, I know this to be a fact. My absolutely most favourite piano students were those who were intrinsically motivated and did not need the reward of exam success or competition prizes, to drive them on. They did not have the killer instinct, but were self driven to do their best simply because they loved what they were doing. These kids ALWAYS came to lessons with their practice done. WHY? because they loved practicing, or simply they loved playing the piano, making music. The competetive ones didn't like practicing, they only did it for the prize. Of those who were competetive, some were competetive for their own benefit, and had parents who didn't really worry much about exam performance. There were a few "football mums" on the sides, stressing out at exam times, and kids obviously trying hard to please their parents.
I think if you looked hard you would find plenty of kids who would say that success is in displeasing an adult, or in pleasing their peer group.

I can understand what goldhills is saying, Ive often thought that adults who play organised sport should be made to take out private health insurance and if possible be treated at private hospitals instead when they get injured (just my opinion of course).

Ive only ever been to two adult amateur sport matches, and both times an ambulance was called, which left me with the impression that sport injuries are pretty common. The first match I saw was footy, some guy got badly injured during a tackle and was carted away in the ambulance. The second match I saw was when a frustrated player sucker punched someone on the other team and broke his jaw and again, the ambulance was called. the thing that really stuck out for me was all the little bits of shoving and chest bumping that I saw, and I think young men in particular have trouble keeping that testosterone in check when there's a competition at stake, and this is just a recipe for someone getting hurt.

I have been sick in hospital and had the nurse come and tell me that my surgery was bumped back because of a sport emergency, so I definitely see where goldhills is coming from.

and no I dont hate sport, I enjoy watching some sport, but there is way too much of it on tv, the majority of sport on tv is aimed at men like watching the footy, rugby, cricket etc, there is virtually no womens sport on tv (except for channel 2), so the commercial stations are definitely programming to a specific (largely male) demographic, so no wonder women in particular get fed up with it.

trancegemini