Physical Fitness

Physical Fitness
Physical fitness is very important for everyone but especially for children. “Childhood obesity is now the most prevalent nutritional disease in children 18 years and younger.” (Robertson, 2010) Food enters the body as energy and if it does not exit the body in energy, it will turn to fat. Children need to be taught to choose healthy physical activity of sedentary activity. Project Skip says that having “regular physical activity into early childhood education environments, emphasizes competency in fundamental motor skills.” (Robertson, 2010) At the preschool age, children are learning how to balance more. They are learning their strength and range of motion. Different types of activities can help promote different areas of development. Gymnastics can help promote flexibility and range of motion. Soccer can teach them their strength with kicking a ball. They can also learn how to start and stop quickly or change directions while still in motion.
There are many problems that can arise from children not being active. The main one is that they could become obese. If they do not produce enough energy to use the food they took in, it will turn to fat and sit on their body. Children that are overweight also can develop diabetes. This in itself has long lasting problems. Heart disease is also common in overweight children. Besides health problems, children can become very self conscious. Other children could pick at them and make fun of them because of their size or inability to do things the other children can do.
To promote good physical fitness the first thing adults can do is model good physical fitness. Children like to mock adults. If they see you being active they will want to be active. If you are playing computer games all the time or watching TV, they will want to do the same thing. A great activity for children to do that focuses on their gross-motor skills is tag. They are running around trying not to get caught. The person that is it is trying to catch someone so they can be it. It is fun for them and they are running around. A great activity to focus on fine-motor skills would be catch. It teaches the child to be able to catch a ball or other objects that are thrown at them. This activity can help them be able to play sports later such as baseball, softball or football. (Goodway & Robinson, 2006)
“Active children in early childhood education programs should be encouraged to remain that way.” (Robertson, 2010) Many time parents or teacher complain that a child is too active, but there is no such thing. The more active the child is the better. Sweating is also very important. By being active and working up a sweat, your body is able to rid itself of harmful toxins.
It seems that at this point in time, physical activity has not been as important as it used to be. I remember when I was in elementary school; we had to take a physical fitness test every year. We had to run, do sit ups, sit and reach, and climb a peg board. There was a standard of where everyone should fall in. They gave us awards if we were better than the standard. They do not do that now. We had recess at least twice a day and now they are lucky if they get it once a day. Many schools are being forced to have children make certain grades on standardized tests, so recess gets pushed out of the way so they can work more. It is very sad that it has come to that. If you look at many playgrounds at schools in my county, they look run down and old. They are not used very much at all any more.
One of my favorite things when I was in elementary school was Jump Rope For Heart. It was a fundraiser where we jump roped for a certain amount of time. The kids that jumped the longest won prizes. It was done after school and it was great for promoting physical activity. I also remember when I was little being involved in community sports. I did cheerleading and dance all the time. Back then, it did not cost my parents very much for us to participate. Now the prices are extremely high. There should not be a price on activities that are good for our children’s health. Just like with good nutrition, you have to have lots of money to participate in extra activities that are fun for the kids to do.

Works Cited
Goodway, J., & Robinson, L. E. (2006). Skiping Towards and Active Start. National Association for the Education of Young Children.

Robertson, C. (2010). Safety, Nutrition, and Health in Early Childhood Education. Belmont: Wadsworth.

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