Experts have warned that our children are getting weaker…
Children of today have less muscle strength than children born a decade before. In a study led by Dr Gavin Sandercock, a children’s fitness expert at Essex University, he found they could do fewer sit ups, were less able to grip objects firmly and were less able to hang from wall bars in a gym.
I was at the Paediatric Osteopathic Conference 2015 in London this last weekend and in a lecture given by Dr Nathan Hassan, a Consultant Paediatrician and Paediatric Rheumatologist at Great Ormond Street Hospital in London, he said that children today have one third of the strength of their parents at the same age.
I find this really quite shocking.
The reason? Not enough exercise and not enough of the right exercise.
Changes in lifestyles over the years: parenting styles, the rise in health & safety concerns and litigation and the fact that most of us don’t (can’t?) just let our kids run out of the door after school and play outside until it gets dark are all likely contributors.
Dr Hassan believes that children should be doing at least 3 hours of exercise a day, inside or outside but we need to get them moving. And as an osteopath I totally agree. I see so many children and adults whose skeletons just aren’t supported well enough by their muscles. This leads to pain and discomfort and is a real nuisance for the owner.
As parents we all want our children to be healthy and strong, able to have fun and achieve what they want to achieve. I believe that having a healthy strong body goes a long way towards this.
The good news is that we can do something about this!
Muscles are very efficient things. If you use them they get stronger, if you don’t use them your body doesn’t waste it’s energy in preserving their strength and they get weaker. Yes kids really do need to be running around huffing and puffing and going bright red but to improve their muscle strength they also need to be doing some resistance play too. Things like:
• Monkey bars
• Climbing ladders and trees
• Swimming
• Cycling
• Making dens (dragging branches around in the woods or humping heavy sofa cushions across the floor
• Carrying heavy things like books, bags of rice or rocks and by hand and also in a backpack
• Soft play centres
• Playing tennis
• Football
• Gymnastics
• Rollerskating / rollerblading uphill
• Tug of War
• Leapfrog
• Gardening (helping with raking, pushing the wheelbarrow, shoveling sand and soil, pulling out weeds)
• Push or pull a friend or a heavy item in a wheelbarrow
• Pull a wagon uphill (walking backwards)
• Sit on a chair and hold the seat and pull upwards
• Knead and roll out dough
• Squeeze therapy gel balls (like stress balls but graded from soft to harder)
• Pick up and pour containers of water
…basically anything that takes a bit more effort and requires them to be pushing or pulling against something. Yes they will say they’re too tired, their legs hurt or ‘do I have to?’ but I think we need to push them, exercise them and get them fitter!
The added benefit of resistance play is that it also helps to develop body awareness, joint position and body position in space (proprioception). So it will also help to improve their balance, speed, stamina and reduce any clumsiness.
I know it’s hard as we don’t all have easy access to this kind of play. Most of us have to accompany our younger kids to parks and we don’t necessarily have 3+ hours a day to play ourselves! I know our kids certainly behave better when they’ve had some exercise and they’re so much better at focusing on tasks and learning afterwards too. I really do wish there was more sport in primary schools. I believe this would have a direct impact on the kids’ behavior, ability to learn, overall health and self-esteem.
Also not to forget that more and more children are deficient in Vitamin D (the sunlight vitamin), which is so critical for so many of our body’s functions. Another good reason to get our kids outside.
Let’s get our kids strong and set them up for living!
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All the above activities are done by kids who attend Steiner / Waldorf schools, especially in the kindergarten years. A great bonus for our three kids especially our youngest with Down syndrome.
Oh that’s interesting. I thought schools were leaning away from monkey bars in particular, for health & safety reasons. We live in London, so it’s a bit harder to access things on a daily basis.
So interesting, I know our two are fit and healthy and strong as they are sport mad, constantly active, love climbing and sport. But its sad that some children spend hours upon hours hemmed in playing games consoles and watching TV. I do believe these thing are ok in moderation but Kids need to be active and have fun for their long term health x
I totally agree with you Sarah and I think sometimes as parents we’re all for coping in the moment. I’m not sure if you saw my facebook share – there’s an amazing new kindergarten design based purely on what young kids need. It looks fabulous!
Really great post and completely agree with you. This is something that needs to be shared with other parents and primary schools.
#SundayStars
Thanks Karen and yes I agree – any ideas???
This is really interesting. I absolutely agree that encouraging physical activity is important for children, and I might have guessed that kids were perhaps not getting as much time outdoors as previous generations. However I was still supprised by the dramatic results of that trial. Important issue to raise and you’ve listed so many helpful and fun suggestions to keep little ones active. #sundaysstars
I know – I found it rather shocking. I’m now boring everyone around me telling everyone we need to get our kids exercising more! If only I took my own advice and did more myself! I’m sure I only have a 1/3 of the strength of my kids 🙂
Fantastic post. I think we all need to insure that physical activity is as import as academic learning. People will find time to work their children’s brains, but their bodies are just as important.
As parents we need to put in that extra effort everyday and more needs to be done in school to make sure that children are a active everyday rather than just a couple of times a week.
Thank you so much for popping by Emma and yes you’re spot on – we are all geared up for ‘brain work’ and forget about the rest. I so so so wish schools would do more PE but I have absolutely no idea how to get anywhere with this! x
Such an inspiring post, awful this is the case but you’ve provided so many great tips to help us help our kids. Thanks. Thanks too for linking up to #brilliantblogposts
Thank you so much for your kind comments Vicki x
Spot on! I’ve never really thought about it before so thanks for bringing it to our attention. There are plenty of baby/toddler groups but most don’t focus on physical fitness enough, and it’s harder today for older kids to get out, play in the street with safety issues and work pressures for parents to give them the time to exercise. I dread to think how ‘weak’ my son if he’s compared to my physical fitness (which is also pretty shocking) #brilliantblogposts
I fear it’s all going to really kick in as we get older!
Fascinating post. My 6yo daughter achieved a big milestone last week by travelling along the monkey bars for the first time, I think her gymnastics class has really helped – once she gained the confidence to hold on to the bar! I’ve also tried doing the monkey bar and failed miserably, so I’ve been practicing doing pull ups (I’m getting closer to completing one) and I hope I’m positively influencing my daughter. My 3 yo son on the other hand frequently surprises me with his strength!
Your daughter must have been so chuffed with herself – that’s fantastic! I know what you mean – as a child I used to be able to shin up a rope and assumed I could still do it as an adult. Er…NOPE! So embarrassing! I think I should start doing pull ups like you 🙂
Scary findings. In Thailand its difficult to get out at the moment with the heat. I really want to get my tot to the playground in a few months when things cool down though.At the moment he’s crawling obstacle courses and stairs in the house 🙂
#brilliant blog posts
This post is fantastic! Our kids are far too wrapped up in cotton wool and we need to let them adventure! I let my kids climb trees, build dens and cycle to school (on the road!!) this is all important development. I wrote a similar post about letting my kids climb trees after someone told me I was endangering their lives … http://www.trulymadlykids.co.uk/why-children-should-climb-trees/ #sundaystars
Hi Megan – I’ve just read your fabulous post and well done for not being intimidated! I absolutely agree with you and thank you for popping in!
This is really sad! I agree with the others that when you go and do thing sthat places like the park are empty and I am sure this is down to convenience. Being a stay at home dad and a home educator we do get out and do a lot more than most would do. that being said I am sure there could be lots more. We are not a very technology based family so we do rely a lot on interactive play and I would hope that once the boys are able and older to explore independently that they will do more of the things mentioned. Thank you as always for linking up with us on the #bigfatlinky
That is definitely one of the extra beauties of homeschooling and I’m sure your boys learn more with all the movement they get too. Yes that’s a good point – exposing them to physical fun as kids should mean they’re more likely to pursue it when they’re older.
I agree with Natalie, you go to the park and it seldom has kids there, not remotely as many as when I was young, such a shame.
I agree, this is terribly sad. My children get more exercise than most, but probably still not enough. And when we go to the park, it’s always empty. I think that the necessity for more mum’s to have to work full time is a big factor in this issue. I work from home so it’s much easier for me, I don’t know where I would have found the time to be outside every day if my work was a normal set up.
Hi Natalie, yes I completely agree with you – I think that’s a major factor. I think with a bit of thought and planning we can always add more exercise into the kids’ days – even if it’s getting them to run/walk to school instead of slow amble or play games where you time them running up and down the stairs etc. I think the more exercise you do the more you want to do. It’s sticky stuff! It is very very hard though I agree. Thank you so much for popping by x