We didn't pick any hill to die on. I didn't even know this all went down until afterward.
My son, however, was clearly unable to force himself to comply that day, because instead he chose to hide in the locker room. He's only 10, I don't think he'd even heard of "skipping" class before that day, so clearly it was distressing enough for him to risk getting in trouble.
My son participates extremely well in 99% of his PE classes, he actually loves it. He's very active and enjoys sports. Generally speaking, we agree it's a resaonable requirement.
We also don't contradict the school in front of our son if at all possible. So to my son, I expressed that he could have asked to go speak to the RT/Guidance Counsellor if he felt truly unable to participate, rather than hiding and refusing to come out when asked.
To the school, I said "this isn't a huge issue for me" because it isn't. Compliance for the sake of compliance is not a healthy example to set or expectation to uphold.
I'm not saying the requirements were out of bounds, I'm saying for him on that day, he just could not do what he was expected of him.
"If the teacher wants you to run, you run" was exactly the message I had growing up too, but teaching our children to obey authority just because they're in a position of power sets a dangerous precedent.
If my son were going around refusing to do things simply because he "didn't want to" on a regular basis, then this would be an issue. Because my son generally does what he's asked at school (these days anyway), it signalled to me that the expectation was beyond his capabilities on that day.
This is a completely different way of thinking, and hard to wrap one's mind around at first, and of course, you don't have to agree (I didn't / wouldn't have 10 years ago). But this works for us.
My son knows I will enforce reasonable expectations and boundaries, but I will also have his back. And this way he can be honest with me about what he can and cannot do, and hopefully will not feel the need to hide out in a locker room in the future.
