Children and Fitness

As owner of Fuel Fitness as well being a fitness instructor for over 20 years, I have noticed a trend happening.

It seems as though kids are more stressed out. They don’t seem to be doing things for the sake of doing them like we did when we were little - playing outside, enjoying a tennis lesson or even taking a swim in the ocean.

It’s become a deeper issue than that.

For example, when I was little, dance programs were about dance. That’s it. There were not the stressors of competition, traveling on weekends, worrying about money to buy the costumes for the recitals, etc. You went to dance class for an hour to have fun with your friends and to learn how to dance.

It was as simple as that.

As a wellness advocate, this concerns me. Isn’t it about health without competition, focusing inward and building a solid foundation for a child’s relationship with wellness for the future?

I think it is.

Life only gets more difficult as we get older with stress we encounter as adults with finances, jobs, relationships as so on.

I think it is our job as adults (and parents) to help our children find avenues to build their self-esteem and happiness to help create balance and to have a healthy outlook on wellness to assist in that journey.

Teach your children to have fun with fitness. Encourage them to be active and embrace their childhood. They’ll be adults before you know it.

For more information about our fall dance programs, please visit our website at www.fuelfitnessnj.com.