Kids Fitness Tips

Let me take a few minutes of your time and go away from philosophy for just a bit. I want to tell all of you who have young kids, or are thinking of having kids, or may have a friend having kids about some key things I learned. First remember that your kids have a natural way of developing. It is instinctive and we just need to not mess it up. Instead provide as many opportunities as possible for your children to be as physical as they want. 

First go back to the Natures Strength progression. We start supine. In this position encourage your child to play. I love the toys they have now where you can [place your child on their backs, and then place the toy over the top of them. It really gets them stretching and reaching. Fisher Price has one called the rainforest that is fantastic. Follow this ink to it. http://www.fisher-price.com

Remember the more movement the better. Babies respond great to your face and your expressions. Get them laughing! When they laugh you will notice they often will pull their knees to their chest causing even more muscular contraction through their little core muscles. 

Next when they finally do gain that strength to roll over it opens up several new ways to encourage them to move. I want to skip forward however and say that once they have learned to crawl, you have your best chance to give them strength and coordination. Encourage your child to crawl for as long as possible. They learn by watching so literally get down on the floor with them and crawl around. make little obstacle courses for them to crawl around. Make them love crawling and again do not rush to the next step. 

This is a big one I want to help you with. It is so cool when your child is finally able to show signs of walking. Please, please let them do this all on their own. I see parents constantly holding onto their kids hands and walking them all over the room thinking they are helping them out. Trust me, your not. Remember they know what they are doing far more than you do when it comes to training. Let Nature do its thing and let them learn to walk at their own pace. The rewards will be a far more athletic and coordinated child. Last point for today. Even when they are able to walk, still encourage them to crawl frequently to maintain the efficiency they create from this stage of their strength progression.