National Post's Sarah Boesveld writes about parents and physical literacy

Sara Smeaton used to write notes to excuse herself from gym class — and she got her mother to write them too. A dancer, gymnast and swimmer as a kid, she ditched the pool at age 10 after she was put in a lonely synchronized swimming class.

“You can’t synchronize swim by yourself without feeling like a huge loser,” says the Toronto mother of two. That was the “turning point” — the moment she decided she was just not “sporty.” A sedentary adolescence took hold.