| As I personal trainer and youth fitness coach I see the | | | | Age 6-7 &10-11: Kinesthetic Differentiation. Telling |
| problems facing parents and kids. I know these | | | | the difference between different densities, weights, |
| problems are common in almost all developed | | | | textures etc |
| countries. | | | | Age 6-8: Synchronization of movement. Jumping while |
| Obesity, diabetes and other lifestyle related disease | | | | dribbling, moving your arms while running |
| are on the rise so getting kids involved in physical | | | | Age 7-9: Rhythmic motion. Dance, clapping, music |
| activity early is VERY important. | | | | Age 8-10: Reaction to sound and visual signals |
| There are "critical" periods for the development of | | | | Age 9-10: Balance |
| different physical attributes such as coordination, | | | | Age 8-13: Movement Skills. How to start, stop jump, |
| balance, endurance, strength etc. | | | | land, turn etc |
| If you help your children develop these attributes at the | | | | Age 12-14: Spatial Orientation. Knowing where your |
| right time, they will likely be great at them throughout | | | | body (and its parts) are in space |
| their lives. If you miss these critical periods, your child's | | | | So if you are sending your kids to playschool make |
| development of these attributes will not be optimal. | | | | sure that the activities help your children in these areas |
| Even if they try to train these later, it will be slower and | | | | to maximize their potential. Young kids do not need to |
| will not likely reach their potential. This is an important | | | | lift huge weights. Rather, learn to move, and get strong |
| fact that should encourage parents to send their kids | | | | later. |
| for some kind of physical activity as early as possible. | | | | As a coach I have helped to quickly make many fast |
| Here are some guidelines to critical periods for | | | | athletes strong, but it takes a lot longer to make a |
| different skills. There are minor differences between | | | | strong but uncoordinated athlete fast. So focus on |
| genders as to when these critical periods start and | | | | coordination during your child's younger years and they |
| end, but here are the general guidelines. | | | | will end up with a great chance of becoming a good |
| A critical period means that during this period, the child | | | | athlete. |
| will be especially gifted in improving in this particular | | | | The best part about this is that their increased athletic |
| physical attribute. Thus it is best to focus on this | | | | ability help to increase their participation in physical |
| attribute during this critical period. | | | | activities and sports because kids (and all of us) tend |
| Age 0-6: Totally unstructured play. That means keep | | | | to do more of the things that we are good at. That is |
| the kids active. When I was this age, I played in sand, | | | | wonderful news for preventing diseases and health |
| finger painting, play-doh, Lego and multiple other | | | | problems due to inactivity. |
| physical activities. This is the best way. Run around | | | | This is a great life long gift you can provide for your |
| and play! | | | | children. |