As the kids go back to school I am reminded once again of the importance of physical activity in their lives. We often forget (or even don’t know) the huge impact that physical activity has on our children’s ability to be successful in school.
The impact of exercise on physical health is clear but if you look at the decreased emphasis on physical activity in our schools, it appears that the behavioural and cognitive benefits of exercise are not as widely accepted by our school system. As parents, we need to look elsewhere for the opportunities to help our children be active for their physical and mental well being.
Did you know that children who regularly participate in physical activity tend to do better in school? Exercise helps their growing bodies and minds in more ways than we can even imagine. The increased oxygen to the brain increases the brain’s neurotransmitters which help your child to focus, learn, make memories, concentrate, and handle daily stressors.
Even without looking at the research supporting the benefits of physical activity, all we need to do is watch our children to see the impact it has on their growing brains and bodies. So much research is being done to document the positive impact of exercise on children’s overall physical health in addition to their ability to learn and behave appropriately. So why is there less opportunity for physical activity in our schools now more than ever?
Now for the sciency stuff (this is where I geek out and most other people check out lol). Research indicates one of the greatest benefits of exercise is its ability to improve brain function by helping nerve cells to multiply, creating more connections for learning and that an increase in physical activity has a significant positive effect on cognition, especially for early elementary and middle school students. Check out this article from Brett Kilka at Spiderfit Kids for more of the science How Physical Activity Grows Young Brains - SpiderFit Kids
Research shows us exercise can drastically impact cognitive skills, concentration and attention span, behavior in the classroom, executive functions, reading, spelling, math and can increase test scores.
Not only that but exercise makes it easier for your child to sleep at night, reduces daytime sleepiness and helps reduce sleep disorders. Sleep and exercise have a bidirectional relationship, which means that one affects the other. When your child sleeps well they have the energy to be physically active. When your child is active, their sleep quality improves, and good sleep plays a large roll in the academic success of children.
September 2022 Blog
By Coach Kris
WHO PUT OUR GIRLS IN THIS BOX?
I work with a group of pre-teen/ teen girls each week in a program we call our “GIRLS POWER HOUR”. A bunch of like-minded girls getting together once a week to have fun and create lasting friendships while we focus on making our bodies and minds strong and healthy. These girls range in age from 12 to 16 years. At the end of each session we work on mobility and mindfulness and open the floor up for discussion in a supportive, judgement free zone.
As we talk and more importantly, as I listen, I am hearing these girls talk about their boyfriends and their friends, about their bodies and weight loss, great abs and a great butt. Their conversation really made me stop and take notice. Not once did I hear any of these girls talk about how working out makes them feel less stress, or strong and happy, or that their bodies are the machine that will carry them for the rest of their lives and they need to keep it strong and healthy. What I heard were things like “I want abs so that I can wear a bikini at the beach”, “I want to squat so that I can have a great butt”, “My boyfriend likes the way my butt looks since I started working out”. As they talked a bit more and I listened, it was clear that many of them have this subconscious idea they are not ok the way they are. They talked about how they felt if they didn’t look like the models they see on line and in the media they feel the need to work harder to achieve that so called perfect body.
Why do so many of our girls have the idea that they are not OK just the way they are?
How can they not have that idea? We live in a world full of quick “fixes”, diets to eat, workouts to do that will help you get that booty and those abs, different ways we can act to “fix” ourselves. Newsflash! Our girls don’t need to be fixed. They are not broken, the world we live in is broken.
There is so much comparison in their lives. When we compare ourselves to others just to fit in, we often end up feeling different and even more alone. So, what’s a girl to do?
As soon as we embrace who we are and start to feel happy with the way we look or heaven forbid stand up for ourselves and our beliefs we get labeled as “too much”, too fat, too thin, too emotional, too opinionated, too bossy, too athletic, too loud… and on and on and on.
We keep telling our girls that they need to love themselves just the way they are, to embrace their authentic selves but the truth is our world does not make it easy for women and girls to feel, discover or be who they really are.
It is easy to feel like our job is to just sit back, look pretty and be quiet. We get contradictory messages every time we try… “love yourself, but not too much” “say what’s on your mind… but not at the expense of anyone else’s feelings”, “ask for what you want but don’t be greedy” “be proud of your accomplishments but don’t brag”, “stand up for yourself but don’t be bossy”… above all don’t be “too much”.
Who created these boxes that we have stuffed our girls into? They are fighting so hard to get out. It’s time!!!
Time to give our next generation of women the tools they need to break out of those boxes and be whoever and whatever they want to be. It’s time to teach them that they are not broken, the world we live in is.
This blog was inspired by the amazing group of young women I have the privilege of spending my Monday evenings with and partly by the current media attention around Naomi Osaka and Simone Biles as well as my current reading selections “Strong Women Lift Each Other Up” by Molly Gailbraith and “Girlvana: Self-Love, Yoga and Making a Better World—A Handbook” by Ally Maz
I encourage you to read or to encourage your girls to read both of these books, they have been life changing for me.
-Kris
As the kids go back to school I am reminded once again of the importance of physical activity in their lives. We often forget (or even don’t know) the huge impact that physical activity has on our children’s ability to be successful in school.
The impact of exercise on physical health is clear but if you look at the decreased emphasis on physical activity in our schools, it appears that the behavioural and cognitive benefits of exercise are not as widely accepted by our school system. As parents, we need to look elsewhere for the opportunities to help our children be active for their physical and mental well being.
Did you know that children who regularly participate in physical activity tend to do better in school? Exercise helps their growing bodies and minds in more ways than we can even imagine. The increased oxygen to the brain increases the brain’s neurotransmitters which help your child to focus, learn, make memories, concentrate, and handle daily stressors.
Even without looking at all the research supporting the benefits of physical activity, all we need to do is watch our children to see the impact it has on their growing brains and bodies. So much research is being done to document the positive impact of exercise on children’s overall physical health in addition to their ability to learn and behave appropriately. So why is there less opportunity for physical activity in our schools now more than ever?
Now for the sciency stuff (this is where I geek out and most other people check out lol). Research indicates one of the greatest benefits of exercise is its ability to improve brain function by helping nerve cells to multiply, creating more connections for learning and that an increase in physical activity has a significant positive effect on cognition, especially for early elementary and middle school students. Check out this article from Brett Kilka at Spiderfit Kids for more of the science How Physical Activity Grows Young Brains - SpiderFit Kids
Research shows us exercise can drastically impact cognitive skills, concentration and attention span, behaviour in the classroom, executive functions, reading, spelling, math and can increase test scores.
Not only that but exercise makes it easier for your child to sleep at night, reduces daytime sleepiness and helps reduce sleep disorders. Sleep and exercise have a bidirectional relationship, which means that one affects the other. When your child sleeps well they have the energy to be physically active. When your child is active, their sleep quality improves, and good sleep plays a large roll in the academic success of children.
JULY 2021 BLOG
ANXIETY AND MELTDOWNS, HOW CAN ADULTS HELP?
We've all been there!!! Whether it's your 3-year-old melting down because they can't do Jean-Claude Van Damme splits between 2 couches or your 15-year-old having an anxiety attack because they are due to get up in front of all of their classmates and give a speech. The reason can be as unpredictable as the weather, and it feels like the simplest thing can have them spiraling out of control.
The reason for the meltdown varies from person to person and let’s be honest, sometimes it seems like there is no reason at all. According to an article from the Child Mind Institute titled "WHY DO KIDS HAVE TANTRUMS AND MELTDOWNS?"
https://childmind.org/article/why-do-kids-have-tantrums-and-meltdowns/
"Tantrums are symptoms that a child is struggling with emotions she can't regulate." Anger is the #1 emotion causing kids to lose their cool, but ANXIETY is another trigger "it causes kids to freak out, overriding the logic that would enable her to see that her anxiety is out of proportion to the situation."
Regardless of the reason, most children's mental health experts agree that our kids lack certain skills that could better help them handle the situation that caused them to melt down in the first place, these include:
- impulse control
- problem solving
- delayed gratification
- negotiating
- communicating wishes and needs to adults
- knowing what is appropriate or expected in a given situation
- self soothing
A quick 1-2-3 for parents to remember when the kids are out of control
1. Do not let your emotions take over- I know it is super frustrating and so much more easily said than done but try to stay as calm as possible
2. Know that you are doing the very best you can- you have absolutely nothing to feel guilty or embarrassed about
3. Don't even try to reason with them- Scientists have proven that when a child is having a meltdown or feeling extreme anxiety, their brain is not able to hear or respond to the things we say to them. Their logic is gone.
As a Youth physical literacy specialist, I coach more than 100 kids of all ages in any given week and I have seen my fair share of out of control emotions. Here are a few strategies I have found successful in helping the athletes I work with calm down and refocus. We love these strategies so much that we have added them to our weekly programming to help the kids learn to use them on their own when they feel their emotions start to bubble over.
1. BOX BREATHING - so we can use our breath and counting to slow down our brains and help ground ourselves in the present moment
- breathe in through your nose for 4 counts
- pause and hold your breath for 4 counts
- exhale through your mouth for 4 counts
- pause and hold your breath for 4 counts
2. SCRUNCH YOUR FACE- the repetitive contraction and relaxation helps release the tension being held above the neck
- scrunch your face tightly for 15 seconds then release
- repeat several times
3. BREATHE IN- the cool air over your lips will help to refocus and slow down
- breathe in through your nose
- hold your breath and lick your lips
- slowly blow air out through your mouth
- do this several times until you notice that your breathing and heart rate have slowed down
Meltdowns are stressful for everyone involved. As you walk your kiddos through these calming techniques you might even find yourself relaxing too.
MAY 2021 BLOG
It has been a little while since I have posted any thing here. I think it is important that you know why Warrior Athletes began and a little bit about my commitment to the children we coach.
Those who know me will know that I have felt a sort of calling to work with animals and children since I was a little girl. I felt the biggest pull (or maybe push) toward being a veterinarian and then I became a teenager. I discovered boys and the fact that I liked to have a good time with my friends, neither of which helped me get the kind of marks that would get me to University let alone Vet school.
So imagine everyone’s surprise (and probably their disappointment) when my post-secondary choice was a Fashion Diploma at a community college. That whole saga is a different story for a different day but is one of those little pieces that has led me to where I am today.
Obviously, the vet thing didn’t work out and the fashion thing fizzled and died but my desire to help guide and lead kids never went away. My kids, your kids, everyone’s kids. It started as a journey into physical development, as I witnessed the lack of physical activity or desire to be physically active with my own kids. When I looked around, I realized I wasn’t alone and that was how Warrior Athletes was born, out of a desire to help other children discover physical activity and its benefits while I helped my own. It was just supposed to be a couple of years and some activities to teach and keep the kids engaged but on that journey, I have noticed so much more. Our kids are lost, this world is changing at breakneck speed, we can’t keep up with the technology and all of the newness it brings. As a society we lack the tools to help our kids navigate all of this newness because it is just as new for us as it is for them.
Now add a global pandemic! Before COVID 19 social media and peer pressure was intense and the emotional well being of our kids was fragile at best. After 18 months of isolation there are some very obvious cracks in the shells of our kids. The world has changed so much that we are all at a loss and don’t know to help the youngest members of our society.
The lack of opportunity for physical activity has removed their outlets for distraction and the separation from peers and the ability to get away from the negative influences in their lives, even if it’s for just an hour. Our kids don’t know how to be bored, how to think and just be alone with their thoughts. There is always something to do and when we don’t schedule it for them, they have a tablet or phone in their hands. When they finally get down time, and they have had lots of downtime, their thoughts often drift to comparisons to perfect media images or what their “friends” are saying and doing. There is no room in our world for negativity which often makes them feel ashamed for having the very human emotions of fear, anger and jealousy just to name a few.
10 years old! That is approximately when our kids start to create an awareness about the world around them, start comparing themselves to others and stop being their true authentic selves. I am here to be a guiding hand to help kids think for themselves, be true to who they really are and be physically, mentally and emotionally healthy as they grow.
There are cracks in our shells but that’s ok… “There is a crack, a crack in everything. That’s how the light gets in” – from Anthem by Leonard Cohen
“Toxic Positivity”-JUST ANOTHER BUZZ WORD?
When I wrote about Toxic Positivity 2 weeks ago, it wasn’t a term that I had heard very much. A couple of very forward-thinking podcasters I listen to had mentioned it and it took some digging and research for me to really understand the concept and what it means for our kids.
Fast forward 2 weeks and I am hearing the term thrown around in casual conversation. It seems to be becoming the “phrase of the week” when we are talking about kids’ mental health.
Earlier this week, I had the pleasure of sitting in on a virtual workshop with Dr. Peter Lui (C. Psych. Hunt Club Psychological Services, Ottawa ON) on the subject. It became apparent to me that many people are struggling with the concept. Toxic Positivity and optimism are 2 different things, and it can become easy to confuse one with the other.
Toxic Positivity often comes from an incredibly good place, most people don’t even realize that they are feeding into a concept that causes our kids to feel feelings of inadequacy, failure and judgement.
Rather than thinking of our positivity as being “Toxic”, maybe what we need to do is change our approach and practice more “Emotional Validation”. Kids aren’t a carbon copy of the adults in their lives, they are new to this and learning how to navigate their feelings. Adults need learn how to practice empathy, asking questions that respect our kids’ feelings, open mindedness, and active listening.
As a society we need to work on resisting the urge to “Fix it” and instead validate our kids’ feelings and offer comfort and support while they navigate emotions that may feel new to them. In doing this, we accept them as an individual and help them realize it’s OK to feel all of the feelings.
As a parent I struggle with this and want to revert to the old, learned habit of trying to fix it and “sprinkle positivity” all over that bad stuff. Here’s an example that happened at my house not to long ago. My teenage son applied for his first part time job at a sporting goods store. Despite being an athlete and planning on a degree in Sports Management, he didn’t even get an interview.
Needless to say, he was very disappointed. My brain immediately went to “Don’t worry about it, everything happens for a reason” and “It’s not a big deal. It’s just a job, there is more than one place to work”. The thing is it was a big deal to him. He had his heart set on working there and thought he was a shoe in.
So rather than try and persuade him not to be disappointed I had to change my thinking (even though in my mind it wasn’t a big deal), instead of brushing it off as not important I let him know that it was ok to be disappointed and even angry. We talked about why it was important to him and how he felt about not getting that interview and what he thought might prevented that.
Had I said what I initially wanted to say, it would have made him feel like his ambitions weren’t that important and that what he wanted didn’t really matter. In the end, he had a look at his resume, made a few changes and went out the next day to apply for another job. He got hired on the spot and the next time he applies for a job and doesn’t get it, he has the tools to deal with the disappointment.
Here are a few other ways we can practice emotional validation…
It is important to remember that it is not our job to make our kids’ negative feelings go away, but we should choose to be supportive rather than dismissive or judgmental. By acknowledging their feelings, validating them, and offering our support we can help our kids find their own way to regulate their difficult, human emotions. This way they can develop the tools and the confidence they need to face difficult situations in the future.
BULDOZING A PATH TO POSITIVITY
What we may be missing keeping our kids in a positive emotional bubble
April 23/21
Last week I talked about “Toxic Positivity” and how our quest to be positive and happy all the time may be negatively impacting our kids mental health. Thank you to all of you who reached out to continue the discussion with me. I am no expert here and find myself really struggling to validate my own negative emotions (I am working on that).
I desperately want to protect my kids and the people that I love from struggling and I often try to “bulldoze” a path to positivity for them. I have found myself trying to change the course of someone else’s hurt by saying things like “It could be worse”, “this too shall pass”, “focus on the positive and be grateful for all of the things you do have”. This was all coming from a good place, I thought I was helping by trying to get them to focus on the things that were good and happy in their lives.
The more research and reading I do on the subject of “Toxic Positivity” the more I understand how important it is to feel and validate what we perceive as being negative emotions. Rather than trying to “fix it” what I really needed to do was listen, to understand and accept what my loved ones were feeling. They don’t need to be fixed, they aren’t broken, they are feeling very normal human emotions.
Trying to “fix it” may have the complete opposite effect and leave them feeling rejected, ignored, or judged when what they are really looking for is understanding and someone to listen without trying to talk them out of their feelings. In most cases when we are able feel the whole spectrum of emotions and are supported through them, we can work through things much faster than if we had ignored the negative and tried to put a positive Band-Aid on it.
I am not saying that we should walk around with a big black cloud above our heads and live in a constant state of anger and sadness but, hear me out… what if, instead of trying to bury those emotions we tried to understand them and figure out what is making us feel this way and what these emotions are trying to tell us about ourselves.
I found this amazing article around Emotional Validation, its importance in communicating acceptance, strengthening relationships and showing the people we love how much we value them and their feelings. I am working on this.
TOXIC POSITIVITY
IS OUR OBSESSION WITH POSITIVE THINKING NEGATIVELY IMPACTING OUR KIDS??
Photo by Sophie Novelo
This was really hard for me to write, I have written, deleted, rewritten, procrastinated and agonized over the right words to express my feelings. My business coach challenged me to write a piece about what keeps me up at night, so here goes…
Last week my son came home from school with the news that a boy we know from hockey, had taken his own life. This boy appeared from the outside to have it all together, a tremendous athlete, a great student, an all-around fantastic kid.
This tragedy sparked so many emotions and made me ask myself, “What made things so bad that he decided that taking his life was the only solution?”. Then I started thinking about what we teach our kids when things get tough. Starting from a young age we tell them to just “suck it up”, “it could be worse”, “at least you still have…”, “just forget about it and move on” we say things like “so many others have it way worse than you”, “you should be grateful for everything you have”. We fill their lives with “Toxic Positivity”.
“Toxic positivity is the assumption, either by one’s self or others, that despite a person’s emotional pain or difficult situation, they should have a positive mindset or – my pet peeve term – “positive vibes,” explains Dr. Jaime Zuckerman, a clinical psychologist in Pennsylvania who specializes in, among other things, anxiety disorders and self esteem.
With toxic positivity, negative emotions are seen as bad and if we could just flip a switch and make all of our thoughts positive, life would be good again. The pressure to always look like you are “OK” can give our kids the impression they are defective when they feel normal human emotions like fear, pain and sadness which can lead to shame and the belief that they are inadequate or weak.
Zuckerman says that “toxic positivity, at its core, is an avoidance strategy used to push away and invalidate any internal discomfort.” She also states that “Avoidance or suppression of emotional discomfort leads to increased anxiety, depression, and overall worsening of mental health.”
An older study (Paradoxical effects of thought suppression - PubMed (nih.gov)), shows that when you try not to think about something it actually makes you more likely to think about it, “perhaps even producing the very obsession or preoccupation that it is directed against”
With the pandemic, school closures, the fight against racial injustice, the climate crisis, political uncertainty, and all of the stressors that come with just trying to find your way in an unpredictable world it is not hard to see why our kids are struggling. Add to that the fact that their regular stress relievers have been “locked down” (the gym, sports, social time with friends, hanging out at the mall or the movies), our kids and teens are in crisis.
Is it any wonder that our kids and teens are experiencing feelings they don’t have much experience navigating? We are all so wrapped up in a world of “staying positive” that they are ashamed to feel anything else.
Unfortunately, as humans (yes, our kids are humans too), we can’t decide what emotion we want to have right here and right now. Although, we can choose how we react to those emotions, we can’t dismiss them.
We need to remove the expectation that our kids need to be positive all the time (which to them often translates to prefect) and let them know that it is ok to feel the way they feel, that their anxiety and fear is a very normal reaction to a very abnormal world. We need to help them accept whatever genuine feelings they encounter, sit with them, and let them pass on their own.
Our job as parents is to have those difficult conversations with our kids, let them know that we are their safe place, help them talk through their emotions, listen to them and validate how they feel, even if it is different than how we feel. We need to give our kids a safe place to land, that means not trying to fix everything for them but being there every step of the way while they figure it out. Not a parachute made to catch them before they hit the ground, but a hand to help the back to their feet when they fall.
WHAT’S HAPPEING TO OUR KIDS??
Have you noticed that our kids just aren’t as good at the physical stuff as we were at their age?
In my last blog I mentioned that our kids may not move as much as they used to because they don’t know how. You probably thought, “Come on Kris, humans are born to move, my toddler knows how to throw things and no one taught him that.”
You are absolutely right! We are definitely born with the ability to move but the skills to move with confidence and accuracy need to be learned. Think back to your own childhood, not that long ago fun was going outside, meeting up with our friends and joining whatever pick-up game was happening in the neighborhood. A game of hide and seek or tag taught us how to turn, twist and dodge to avoid being tagged, playground soccer with the dog’s ball taught us how to move around and kick, weight our kicks for distance and accuracy. In a game of creek “baseball” we learned how to hit rocks with a stick and send them soaring over to the other side.
By playing as children, we learned sport skills without even knowing it. As our skills grew so did our confidence and love for the games we played. That is when the magic happened. When kids learn to be active at a young age, they are more likely to be active for the rest of their lives. That game of creek “baseball” helped us develop the skills we needed to be confident participating in our adult rec baseball league, kicking the dog’s ball and playing tag taught us valuable soccer skills that we use every Sunday night… you get the picture.
I have been a youth movement specialist for well over a decade, lately I find I am teaching things to 7- and 8-year-olds that I used to teach to 3-year-olds. I have started to include things as simple as hopping, running, jumping, and galloping into programs for older children because they just don’t know how to do it. They want to be able to progress to the more difficult movements that come in a strength and conditioning class, but they can’t mange the basics, so we have to start from the beginning and work our way up to the more difficult activities. They get frustrated when they can’t kick the ball or throw with any accuracy and in many cases just move on to something fun that doesn’t require any of the skills they haven’t yet developed.
As kids our main goals were to play games and hang out with our friends, that hasn’t changed, but the way our kids play has. My childhood was filled with active games and play, and I am still an active person. Our kids still love to play games and can do things with a computer and a smartphone that boggle my mind. Don’t get me wrong, I love a good game of Mario Cart and Tetris just as much as my kids do. They are tons of fun but have very little to do with being active.
Our world is complicated and scary, we have a very natural parental instinct to keep our kids safe. We drive them places because it is too dangerous for them to walk alone or ride their bikes on the busy street. We prefer to keep them inside to play when we can’t supervise them, and don’t even get me started on the Covid-19 pandemic that has us all at home and sheltering in place. Physical activity has lost its place of importance in our school system too. As more emphasis is placed on literacy and numeracy our physical literacy is falling short. We are raising the first generation of children that will have a lower life expectancy than their parents and the most inactive generation in history. So, what can we do? How can we help our kids learn and enjoy moving?
There are also some great programs out there that can help our kids learn through play and explore the way their body moves and what it can do, helping to provide the skills they are just not learning on their own.
We need to teach them how to play and give them the foundations for physical literacy that will make them confident in their abilities to be active for the rest of their lives. Let them spend time outside exploring and getting dirty, they will figure out so much about how their bodies move, what the best way to jump over the creek without getting a soaker is and how to to tee up that rock and send it soaring into the sky.
“The best time to plant a tree was twenty years ago. The second best time is NOW.”
— Chinese Proverb
March 10, 2021 Blog Post
Wow, it has been quite the week at my house!!! We had a Covid scare with our youngest, thankfully it has turned out to be “just” strep throat (who would have thought in a million years I would be thankful for strep throat?!
We all know that daily vigorous, physical activity helps to strengthen muscles and bones and is essential to the good health of our children. Science has proven that active play can help with a bunch of health-related issues from obesity and diabetes to mental health issues like ADHD, depression, and anxiety. There is even evidence to suggest that being physically fit may be the difference maker when it comes to combatting Covid-19 (check out this article from Nevada Today for more info Physical activity is a strong benefit during COVID-19 | University of Nevada, Reno (unr.edu))
Unfortunately, very few of today’s children meet the Canadian Physical Activity guidelines CSEP_PAGuidelines_0-65plus_en.pdf. One of the main reasons kids don’t move as much anymore is that they might not know how!!! This can lead to a lack of enjoyment of being physically active particularly in their teenage years.
In a study of 2,000 primary school children between the ages of five and 12 in Ireland, Dublin City University researchers found that as many as one in four children could not run properly. Half could not kick a ball properly, and fewer than one in five could throw a ball. These are all skills that most children should be able to master by age eight, according to the study team.
If fundamental movement skills like throwing, catching, skipping, and balancing have not been developed by 8-10 years of age (when skill development begins to level off) these same children are at a greater risk of dropping out of sport and choosing a less active lifestyle in their teenage and adult years.
Dr. Johann Issartel, DCU School of Health and Human Performance states "These findings highlight core issues that teachers, parents and coaches need to address. If the current generation of children can't throw and catch in basic situations, why would they choose to play if they aren't good at it? "It is not fun" that's what they say, and if it is not fun, they won't play. Develop confidence and competence for our children then they won't stop playing and that's what you want. Children at play for as long as possible every day of the year".
It is critical that children develop the confidence and competence they need to keep playing into their teenage years and beyond. When physical activity isn’t fun, kids turn to other activities to make them feel good. There is so much technology available to them now that it is easy to find other fun, sedentary activities to occupy their time.
What can we do to ensure our kids are developing the skills they need to be confident in their ability to be active for life?
1. It is never too late to start, although learning new movement skills comes easier to younger children, anyone can learn the skills they need to enjoy a new sport or activity that they will enjoy for the rest of their lives
2. Give your kids a solid foundation in physical literacy starting at an early age, as unsupervised play for our children decreases, they do not have the same opportunities to experiment with their bodies to figure out how they move, organized, structured play with a children’s fitness expert can help to ensure kids get exposure
3. Encourage “adventurous play” like climbing trees, jumping from high places,
4. Model and enforce healthy screen time habits, technology isn’t going away so we need to find a way to make it coexist with an active lifestyle (more on that in a later blog)
5. Help kids find fun ways to be active. Not every child is comfortable playing sports on a team. That’s ok, there are lots of ways we can move our bodies
SHOULD KIDS LIFT WEIGHTS???
Monday March 1st, 2021
You bet they should!!! The World Health Organisation, American Academy of Pediatrics and governments around the world agree muscle-strengthening physical activities are important for the health and well-being of our youth. In fact, Australian government guidelines recommend young people (aged five to 18 years) participate in muscle- and bone-strengthening activities at least three days a week.
The short answer is YES!!! Kids should lift weights, they shouldn’t lift weights badly.
WHAT IS THE BEST WAY TO START A STRENGTH PROGAM FOR YOUR KIDS?
Children are not mini adults!!! The have different physical and psychological needs and their strength program should reflect that. A scaled down version of an adult program does not take those age-appropriate needs into consideration. If you are considering adding a strength program to your young athlete’s routine, here are a few things to keep in mind…
· Ask for some help to start- find a coach or trainer who has experience with youth strength training, they can help you create a program based on your child’s age, skills, sport and interests, many will even have programs designed specifically for kids. Your child will benefit from the group atmosphere and being part of the team
· Warm up and cool down- encourage your child to begin their training with a light dynamic warm up full of active movements that take the body through a full range of motion (jumping jacks, lunges, side shuffles, jogging in place, jumping rope are just some examples). Dynamic movements warm up the muscles and prepare them for more vigorous activity.
· Make sure they do it well before they make it heavy- kids can safely lift adult-sized weights provided the weight and skill level match. Form and technique are far more important than the amount of weight on the bar. Weight can be added once proper form can be maintained.
· Supervise- young lifters should be dissuaded from training alone. Supervision by someone who can coach form and technique is important for injury prevention and safety.
· Keep it fun- the best way to keep your kids interested is to keep it fun!! Vary the routine to make sure they don’t get bored
Next week we’ll talk about why strength and resistance training is important even if (especially if) your child isn’t an athlete.