Running a Punishment?

On Monday, February 20, 2012 a 9 year-old named Savanah Hardin died of dehydration and lack of electrolytes according to the results of an autopsy.

She died days after her step-mother called 911 saying that she had had a seizure. 

What seems to have not been immediately stated during the attempted rescue of Savanah was that the reason she was sufferring from symptoms that marathon runners often experience is because Savanah had been forced to run around her house for 3 hours as punishment for lying about eating a chocolate bar.

Obviously there are so many issues that a person should have with this story, one being that a parent and grandparent's source of punishment was so extreme that it caused death.  And I am so outraged by this.

But.....I'm not a parent and there are going to be people who will say to me, "You don't know what it's like to discipline a child," and that is true.  And obviously, I don't have all the facts.  This occurred on Friday, Savanah died on Monday, and her step-mother and grand-mother were only arrested on Wednesday.  I have not seen anything about the families response to the aligations.  Not a lot of time to get much information out there, but this is a story I will be following.

So, my thoughts right now are......running a punishment?

Ironically, this isn't going to be the first time in the past month that I'm going to make this arguement.  I recently had someone tell me that when she has children, it is her plan to discipline them by making them run and she will drive her car along side them. 

My response was that running shouldn't be used as a punishment.

Let's say that Savanah hadn't passed away from this experience.  Let's say that 3 hours was exactly the plan and the grandmother had told her to stop, given her a few last words against lying and eating something that was bad for her health.  How is Savanah going to feel about running the rest of her life?

True, I used to say that running was against my religion, but that was about hard work and being scared of it.  It wasn't because I had had such a negative experience with it that would probably stick with me for the rest of my life. 

Even if running and fitness isn't something that a parent or teacher likes for themself, we should not make something that is SO GOOD for a person feel like a punishment.

It is soooooo much the opposite.  Fitness IS hard, and for that reason, there are so very few things that make you feel more accomplished than improving in fitness and meeting goals.

A person who views running and fitness as a punishment is very likely never going to change their mind and then never experience the benefits that it gives:

1) Controls Weight
2) Combats Health Conditions and Disease
3) Improves Mood
4) Boosts Energy
5) Promotes Better Sleep
6) Puts a Spark Back in Your Sex Life (okay a kid won't care about this now, but eventually)
7) Exercise Can Be Fun

I have received absolutely every single one of these benefits from running and fitness.  I think it would be very rare for someone that really takes on fitness to NOT experience ALL of them.  If you don't, it just means you didn't have a problem with it to begin with.  So imagine life with all of these aspects. 

It's AMAUZING!  I will repeat over and over that there is no world like the fitness world.  I have a very loving and supportive family, but my Sole Sisters and Turbo Kick Friends understand something much different about me and the feeling of their support is so much different. 

It saddens me to think that there are children whose minds right now are being shaped to think that exercise is a bad thing, not because of it's hard work but because they did something bad and exercise was the consequence.