"Girl Pushups" and my TJ Bounty!

Kids can be lazy. Kids on summer break can be super lazy. Kids on summer break who are taking a 9a dance class can be RIDICULOUSLY lazy. 

I spend a solid twenty minutes at the beginning of each class on warming up and conditioning. I'm not only teaching my students dance, but I'm teaching them how to take care of their bodies. I take this very seriously, and for the most part, that translates. But yesterday morning, as I was warming up with my older students, I decided to throw some pushups into the mix. We went over the importance of good form, and I explained to them that I'd rather see 3 perfect pushups than 30 sloppy ones. We were getting ready to start when a group of girls asked, "Is it ok if we do girl pushups?", followed by a few boys asking, "Can we do girl pushups too?" I stared at them for about ten seconds before they started to protest. "Please?! Why not?!"

Cue motivational teacher lecture and inspirational background music. "No one in this classroom is incapable of doing a proper pushup. Every time you modify or sacrifice the quality of an exercise or stretch to make it easier when you don't actually NEED to, you cheat yourself out of getting better, stronger or more flexible. If you don't want to work, you should not be in my class. I care about you all too much to let you give me anything but 110% effort EVERY. DAY." -End lecture.

And you know what? EVERY student did at least 3 perfect pushups. And though I told them, "Nice job, I'm proud of you," I didn't make a huge deal out of it, because they did their work as it was asked of them, which is what's supposed to happen. I am constantly astounded by how many times I see or hear of other educators  allowing FULLY CAPABLE students to do "girl pushups" or their academic equivalent. If my students learn nothing else from me, may they learn that they must ALWAYS work as hard as they can so they don't cheat themselves out of anything.

Teacher rant: DONE! :)

Hubberoni finally caved to my pleas and picked me up my favorite TJ jams after his show (when I'm working, I spend all day in a 5 mile radius from my home).

 He did well!

 AND he got me FOUR bags of my snack crack, Chili Pineapples! They make you do crazy things, like post the LEAST attractive photo you can manage.

I enjoyed a small scoop of cookies and cream iced cream with a few chocolate chips and a mini spoon of sunflower butter as a bedtime snack. HEAVEN.

What are your TJ staples? Do you have any "girl pushup" stories?