"I just wanna to read". Well Ok, I guess I just have a bookworm for a son". Sound familar? Do you or anyone you know have trouble getting your kids to get up and go? Ever ask yourself why? What was your conclusion" Kid likes to be more creative...He's a bit lazy....Doesn't like to play with the kid next door? Well..... think again. With our goal oriented forward thinking society, we are living in the past and the future rather than the now. And our kids really do pay a price. You see, we relate this goal oriented , forward , future ,end result way of thinking to everything we do. Including movement and exercise and oh yeah of course sports and kids.... Now stick with me and I will show you how all this relates. Being sooooo goal, end result , get the job done right or don't do it at all oriented, we strip away the very core of why humans feel the need to move and create kinesthetically in the first place, which is to learn, create, grow, and have fun. To enjoy (In joy). That's why I have such a problem with our sports oriented and lack of fitness emphasis in the physical education programs. I mean here's a question....who plays kick ball after they graduate? Answer: Hardly anyone. Here's another question...Who already knows how to work out and stay fit after they graduate? Answer: Hardly anyone. Isn't the educational system supposed to prepare the general public for life? Shouldn't the goal be to get kids fit and get them to want to get fit? ...... How do we do this? The answer: By making it a more positive experience. And I mean EXPERIENCE....with the emphasis on experience. Experiencing the movement, the growth, the learning and creating. You can't really experience if all you are worried about is the END result, the goal, the score. As it stands, the only option for phys. ed. in our schools are one of two things: a. Be a glorified jock ( this is great for about 5% if that of the public school population) or b. be a couch potato. There is just noooooo in between. Look, it is a kids job to find out who he or she is and how they are going to best contribute to society. That's what they do for a living every day. Now if you went to work every day and were given a choice to maybe get made fun of or to read a book and be benched, which would you choose? You see? All I am talking about is choices. Some or most kids do not like to compete in sports. Do they want to learn about their own bodies? Do they want to feel good? You betcha.



...or be active and do this!

Moving away from or towards fitness: Now there are either two ways to get a kid to want to excel in fitness:

1. To move away from a painful situation or thought like telling them they won't amount to anything if they don't get that winning goal and .....

2. Moving towards something positive like giving them a good exercise high, information and a creative outlet for their body with fitness activities such as yoga, dance, or fitness. Moving towards the positive is just so much more powerful and long lasting. It can really have the ability to enhance their lives for the rest of their days. ... How do we do that? How do we get kids fit? We get kids fit by getting them to WANT to get fit? The answer is by making it a more positive, educational and creative AND less competitive for most of the kids. By NOT comparing them and expecting to get from them something that they are NOT and were NOT meant to be. I am telling you, only a handful of kids get a high from competing. There are so many more kids who get a high from working out. And all kids and adults get a emotional high from their serotonin increase after a hard workout. Believe me, you can tell when you walk in a studio after a hard Cycling or Fitness Class and people are all hopped up on adlenaline and endorphins ( natural chemicals excreted in the brain during workouts). You can tell because they are sooooo talkative and social. Well that high pretty much falls by the wayside when the kid is worried he or she will be put on the spot and not accepted, my friend . So now we are looking for an activity that is emphasizing the positive, the creative, the educational, and the growth be it muscle growth or emotional . Now what activities do that? Well Yoga for one. I personally think that yoga is incredible for kids and believe me, that is one activity most kids will most likely want to try. They usually want to do it. And for pre teens and teens, it answers so many of their life's questions like what is my body, mind, and spirit all about?. Back to living in the now: So the difference between getting in shape with yoga and fitness and Sports are that with fitness and yoga, you are getting in shape as a by product of trying to feel good. You are getting in shape purely for the joy of movement and then the benefits that come with it. With sports, you are getting in shape purely for the end result to win or get that medal.

Copyright (c) 2008 Gina Cool