Myth

Physical activity is the same as sport, means you have to be “sporty” to do it, or it has to be competitive in some way.

That is a myth.  But stick with me, because this has a direct impact on, yes, how children learn.

Now sport is great for some people. But it is not for everyone.  And that is ok.

However, physical activity and physical fitness ARE for everyone because everyone has a body.

And we all need our bodies to operate well to do everything from carrying groceries or picking up children to riding a bike, playing pickleball, or even country line dancing.  The better our bodies operate, the more easily we can do those things whether they are work or play.

Children also need their bodies to work properly for their work and play, their work being learning.  When a child doesn’t move his body enough, then he becomes weak.  He fails to feed his brain important data like how and when to sit still, how to listen to the teacher, how to attend, and how to write.

Children need their bodies to learn.  Every skill we need to learn (reading, writing, listening) is rooted in physical movements.  When children don’t move enough, they don’t develop these skills and school is harder than it should be.

So when kids spend most of their time in sedentary endeavors (think worksheets, flashcards, desk time, and at home with screen time) then they are not giving their brains what they need to learn.  They are not building the strengths they need for school.

And what happens? One thing that will happen is their brains will make them move whether we adults want them to or not.  But it is happening simply because their brains are screaming for unreceived information from their bodies about how to operate in the world and how to use the body for work and play.

Fact

Kids today are lacking in the practice of moving their bodies, so moving is no fun.  Because it is no fun, they simply aren’t going to do it which feeds a downward spiral into more sedentary behaviors.

So this means, that kids who choose to sit out from physical play flatline in their skill development while their peers gain confidence in what their bodies can do each time they play and move, raising the bar to tackle new physical challenges.

Not sport challenges, but just plain physical challenges and the ability to move.   For example, kids who lack core strength and balance will lack the confidence to climb the ladder to the slide, keep up with their friends who are crossing the monkey bars, or even easily master climbing stairs.

Which is directly connected to their ability to hold a pencil, listen to the teacher, attend to tasks, sit comfortably in a chair, turn pages, and hold their heads up to read.

In other words, when they don’t practice using their bodies in the trial and error of physical play, they don’t build strength in their bodies, they don’t practice motor patterns, and their brains don’t know how to move and manipulate their bodies to learn.

No, physical activity is NOT about sport.  It is about giving our brains what they need to function in our world.

We can no longer discount the importance of physicality to our kids’ learning anymore. 

FACT: Kids today are weaker than they have ever been.

In 2013 it was found that it takes kids 90 seconds long to run a mile than it took same-age children in the 1980s.  This is because there has been a 5% decline in cardiovascular endurance in children every 10 years.  This should be even more concerning because we have had another decade since this study and we have had a pandemic.  There is no evidence that we have changed direction and instead, more likely, things are worse.

Why is cardiovascular endurance a big deal?

When we get aerobic we are improving our cardiovascular endurance.  When we sit still the opposite happens.

More importantly, when we get aerobic we release a chemical in the brain that turns on the attention system, the motivation system and the memory system.  In other words, this chemical helps us attend, learn and behave.

Isn’t that what we want for our learners?