Why Should My Kids Move Now More Than Ever?

With all of us cooped up at home and waiting for this phase to pass activities are being sent out left, right and center on how to engage with the little ones at home. Even schools are sending out homeschooling and programs to fill up your day until at least 2 pm; but is it impossible to get your kids to focus for a long time? Do they burn out quickly and not have the energy to sit and concentrate again? Or are they even acting out and bouncing all over the place when asked to work? Well, have you noticed what all the professionals and educators are including within their daily programs? Run! Jump! Dance! There’s constantly a movement break, and frequent activities encouraging to move the whole body, why? Because children NOW are not having any playtime or break time outdoors, and they desperately need to engage their 6^th and 7^th sense. Hold on 6 & 7? Yes! Other than our 5 main sensory systems (sight, hearing, touch, taste, smell) we have 2 more; a proprioceptive and a vestibular system. There is a common awareness now between parents that gross and fine motor skills need to develop adequately for sports and learning, children will be able to run, throw and catch a ball, walk upstairs, hold a pen or paintbrush, and follow through when copying off the board or book when they have those two appropriate skills. However, did you know that gross and fine motor skills could be affected if the 6^th and 7^th senses aren’t intact? Here’s why. We all have receptors in our muscles that tell us where our body parts are. For example, if you raise your hand, you know that your arm is over your head. You don’t have to think about it or look in a mirror. The proprioceptive system is that which allows the body to know where it is in space, and where your body parts are in relation to each other. But kids with poor proprioception may think their arm is over their head when it’s really straight out in front of them.  In other words, when coming to feed yourself with a fork you don’t stab your cheek or worse your eye! The vestibular system, on the other hand, includes the parts of the inner ear and brain that help control balance, eye movement and spatial orientation. It helps keep you stable and upright. Some problems with the vestibular system could be translated as clumsiness, bumping into things, or swinging on their chair. Why does that happen? Because when kids don’t get enough feedback from the sensory system, they may exaggerate their movements to get the information they need from the environment. They may even knock into the wall to feel more anchored when they walk down a hallway. So how do we promote the development of these extremely important senses? LET THEM PLAY! MAKE THEM MOVE! Thankfully there are so many online resources to help us with this in this dire time, you can easily research youtube for yoga for kids, Zumba kids, obstacle courses…etc. Or just opt for a long walk, a bike ride, a quick trip to the monkey bars! The most critical time to develop a child’s proprioception and vestibular sense is before age six. According to the American Academy of Pediatrics (2013), “a recent study shows that the average child spends eight hours a day in front of screens (television, video games, computers, smartphones, and so on). Older children and adolescents are spending an average of eleven hours a day in front of screens.” That’s a huge amount of time spent in front of screens, which provides little to no proprioceptive or vestibular input. This drastic decline in outdoor play in general for kids is creating behavior problems.  In prior generations, this time was spent outdoors or in play. If we want our kids to listen, focus and learn to sit still for a period of time, they must develop both the proprioception and vestibular sense, they must MOVE!