Fitness is the most incredible gift to give your kids. Children who are given the opportunity to move their bodies frequently throughout the week will experience better mental health, greater success in sport (including just being able to play with other active kids) and you are helping them learn that fitness is a fun and important part of life. Statistically people who are active in their childhood continue to maintain that in adulthood as well!
Fitness is one of the most powerful non-medical tools we can use to improve our mental health (if you aren’t sure about this, read “Move the Body, Heal the Mind” by Jennifer Heisz). Everything from anxiety, depression, ADHD, and the ability to focus are dramatically affected by exercise. During and after exercise your body releases chemicals that make you feel good and help you focus. My daughter was diagnosed with ADHD last year and let me tell you, her symptoms are incredibly affected by her activity levels, I bring her to the gym with me most mornings before school where she will either just “play” or have a session with a personal trainer and it is incredibly effective at helping her thrive at school. I’ve also worked over the years with kids with lower self esteem who struggle with bullying and it’s incredible to watch them feel more powerful as their fitness evolves. Feeling strong can help them so much with feeling confident and good about themselves!
Most kids love to move, whether they play sports or just run around outside with friends. Helping them keep their bodies really fit means they will never be limited when opportunities for sports or play presents. We train several competitive child athletes and their workouts help them recover from and prevent sports injuries as well as improve their sport performance. These kids are so fun to work with because they are so motivated by their performance and beating their competitions that they tend to work really hard at the gym!
Even if your child isn’t a competitive athlete, you want them to be able to keep up when the other kids are kicking around a soccer ball, or climbing trees.
In my opinion, the most important reason to expose your kids to fitness at a young age is to teach them lifetime habits. We want them to learn at a young age that fitness is a fun and important part of everyone’s overall well-being and self care. It lands in the categories of eating and brushing your teeth – it’s just a fun thing that we do everyday to take care of ourselves. When kids grow up knowing this, it’s so easy for them to continue with their healthy active lifestyle as adults! Wouldn’t it be great if your kids didn’t have to learn the hard way about why fitness is important? If they always felt confident and comfortable in a gym setting?
Kids love to move, they were made to move and when they get more opportunities to move it will have an incredible impact on so many parts of their current and long term life!!
I hope to see your kids in the gym this fall!