Is Play Just As Good For Your Child's Physical Fitness?
Looking to keep my kids busy over winter break, I took them to a local community center that opens up their gymnastics room to kids 6 and under for a couple of hours every day.
A favorite with my girls are the enormous soft blocks, which they use to build complex climber and slide contraptions, giggling as their buildings fall down underneath them.
Watching them today, I felt a little sad. My older daughter turns seven next month, too old to attend anymore. If she wants to come back, it will need to be as a gymnastics student, no more free play on the equipment, no more building with blocks.
That's why a recent article at Forbes really hit home for me.
According to Dr. Teri McCambridge, kids are pushed into sports and organized activities way too early these days, at a time in their childhood which really should be focused on play.
"There is too much focus on doing sports and not enough focus on moving", said Dr. Teri McCambridge, a sports medicine pediatrician in Baltimore, who chairs the Council on Sports Medicine and Fitness for the American Academy of Pediatrics.
Rule number one, in her mind, is to make fitness fun.
Make it fun and don't make it seem like exercise, she said. Ideas to get kids active would include riding their bikes, making an outdoor scavenger hunt where they have to run, skip, hop, crawl to find different things, making an obstacle course, playing leap frog, playing capture the flag, playing freeze tag.
My girls are both already enrolled in a weekly dance class. One has played two seasons of soccer, the other has tried tumbling and tee-ball.
One thing which frustrates me about all of these activities is the amount of time kids spend (usually sitting down) waiting their turn. In a 45 minute tumbling class, my daughter actually exercises for about 15 minutes.
We limit organized activities to once a week, and never depend on them to provide actual exercise to our kids. Pete McCall, of the American Council on Exercise, told Forbes pushing kids into sports at an early age puts kids at risk of skipping crucial developmental steps. "Kids aren't being taught how to move," he says. "They are being taught a position -- goalie, outfielder."
Soccer registration starts in just a few weeks, but I may hold off on turning ours in. Instead, we just might use our free time this spring at the playground instead, letting my kids do what they do best: play.
What do you think about organized sports as a fitness activity for young children?
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Created / Updated: January 5, 2010
I prefer kids to be doing sports instead of cooping themselves up and playing computer games all the time... or Wii. At least they'll learn social skills and principles of fairplay etc.
ReplyWhy can't kids do both play AND organized sports? Sure, many sports consist of a lot of "hurry up and wait", but practices usually involve more activity. And sports are great for socialization and learning about teamwork and competition (something kids are getting to experience less and less these days). Playing a sport doesn't mean there can't be time to go to the park, play tag, etc.
ReplyI agree Sprice, I think kids should be involved in organized sports and also encouraged to play more as well, it's healthy.
ReplyI used to dread exercise myself until I read an article years ago on figuring out your "style" of exercise. Such as: Did you love team sports as a child? Then, an exercise class might be something you would enjoy.
I always loved to hula hoop when I was a kid so I bought a fitness hula hoop and some DVD's to keep it interesting. I also got some Zumba DVD's since I enjoy dancing. I never have been a gym person for very long at a time but I am sticking with the hooping and the dancing at home because it is fun.
I actually look forward to my exercise time, now.
ReplyI have lost over 80lbs with diet and these types of simple, fun exercising.
Shack,
ReplyI love your ideas, your exercise routine sounds like so much fun!
Ugh, it's the whole culture. If you're going to have children, you have to realize that spending time with them is a must. This means playing, going for walks, taking them places, etc. This is the "movement" that our children aren't getting. Sports and similar programs are good, too, but more for confidence and learning to be on their own.
ReplyIt's all about balance. Kids need a little of everything...play, organized sports, solo sports like biking and rollerblading, and a little TV time as well. When my cousins and I were kids, we would come home from school and stay at my Grandma's until my dad picked us up. We were always immediately sent out to play and we often played soccer, baseball, tag, or capture the flag. Then we would swing on the swing, have jumprope contests, and climb trees. We would usually spend about an hour or so out there and then we'd come in and do our homework (back then, we only had about 30-40 minutes' worth every night) and then we'd eat dinner together. After dinner, my girl cousins and my sister and I would work on craft projects indoors or we'd play games together. I realize things are different now that there are video games, but those kinds of games/playing are important for kids to build character and to teach them how to interact with people.
Oh, and BTW, now that we're adults, I'm a runner and biker, one of my cousins does triathlons, my sis played soccer and ran track in high school/college, and my other cousin is an avid rollerblader and mountain biker. We all learned that exercise can be a fun part of life and is not the same thing as torture.
ReplyI think it's about what the child wants to do. Early on, we thought it would be great to put our kids in gymnastics or swimming. We quickly learned that we spent more time convincing them they'd have fun and so they should participate than they spent in the classes. So we stopped. But once they told us they wanted to do something, they've enjoyed the classes and stuck with them - and we didn't have to push! We limit organized activities to only two at a time during the school year and that's just fine. I agree they need time to be kids and figure things out outside. My frustration is that I don't feel I can let them roam the neighborhood by themselves, even though we live in a supposedly safe area. I remember being an adventurer by 5 years old! Their adventures to the park or in the neighborhood are always supervised. I feel sad about that.
ReplyGreat comments. Times have changed and there ain't no way our kids would wander down the street like we used to as kids. THis is sad because play is as much about social interaction and learning to work and share with others as it is physical fitness...
ReplyI totally agree Jim. When I was a child (not that long ago!!!) we were always outside on our bikes exploring, and most of the time our parents didn't really know where we were, they just knew we'd be back when hungry!
Now that I've had my own daughter, I cringe at the thought of her doing the same when she gets older, times have changed so much. It's very worrying!
ReplyIt's important to look at the situation for what it is RIGHT NOW. Yes there was a time, where I think it was enough to say kids were getting adequate exercise from just there everyday activity with friends. Groups of friends used to get together and ride bikes, play football, pickup basketball, football, ANYTHING! This has shifted to kids linking up online to play video games with their friends who are down the street also sitting in their own room. So while there once a time where this was self-regulating this is no longer the case. We have kids groups almost everyday in our facility and the lack of mobility and just general movement patterns. So now there is a need to incorporate some specifics to improve mobility/flexibility that wasn't there before. The said fact is, that we almost have to assume that their ONLY source of activity is going to be the hour that I have them two times per week. So we do our best to incorporate flexibility/mobility, strength, and cardiovascular conditioning, all while making it fun so they WANT to come back.
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