Anyone who’s ever seen a child jumping knows what the face of true joy looks like.
Jumping is one of the simplest, cost effective workouts that combine fun and fitness together, providing physical, health and educational benefits to children, young or old. Best of all is that jumping is enjoyable and can be done any time of the day, anywhere.
The Benefits of Jumping
For children who are averse to taking part in sports, jumping works really well by getting a workout without realizing it!
Healthy Heart
Cardiovascular health has become one of the primary concerns in children. Jumping is an important cardiovascular exercise that gives the heart a healthy and organic workout. It helps the blood to circulate properly throughout the body ensuring that oxygen is pumped more efficiently. So, you can encourage your child to do this fun exercise and ensure the proper functioning of their heart, making them feel healthier and more alert. Plus, it is a great way to keep weight down!
Stronger Core Muscles
When children jump, they learn to control the movement of their bodies, which involves virtually all major muscle groups in the body. The core muscles are used to jump and land alike. This is how the core is strengthened. Jumping motions, with simultaneous impact and flex to keep the body going up and landing, allow the joints and muscles to move, strengthening both muscle and bones and increases endurance.
Strong legs can take us very far in life, and children who jump can get the benefits of muscular limbs early on. No more getting tired and begging you to carry them after only half an hour of walking!
Improved Learning
Jumping increases a child’s metabolic rate, helping the child’s body to process nutrients faster and more efficiently. This helps to keep their weight down, leading to a fitter, leaner toned body, which boost self-esteem.
In addition, while jumping, the body produces mood-enhancing substances, that is why children are happy and joyous and find it a fun exercise. Jumping creates a balance in the child’s mind.
With happiness comes an ease of learning. Children who jump regularly tend to be better at study, grasp things easier, and have a sharper memory, improving their learning abilities.
Jumping strengthens both the mind and the body!
Motor Planning & Sequencing
Jumping requires continuous motor planning and sequencing – skills that allows us to plan and execute our movements in order to safely navigate our environment. When jumping, the child uses motor planning to judge distance, evaluate how much power is required to jump and land, plan movements, and then execute the jump in the proper sequence.
Strong Lymphatic System
Jumping activates and stimulates the lymphatic system which manages the levels of toxins in the body. When toxins are managed well, it helps keep diseases away and improves the immune system.
Better Co-ordination
Jumping helps children understand their bodies better. They have to concentrate on a number of skills at the same time: bouncing, balancing, maintaining the body’s position, and anticipating the next action.
Both sides of the brain and body have to work together while controlling different muscles and limbs at the same time as one another. This greatly improves, and has a positive impact, on bilateral motor skills and overall coordination.
Weight Loss
Jumping is great to help tackle weight issues and is very helpful with weight loss. Children can do this easy workout and burn a lot of calories on a daily basis.
Jumping means a leaner body and more flexibility.
Jumping can burn around 100 calories in only ten minutes – You can do it too!
When your child turns 6 it usually means that it’s their last year in preschool. In a year, your child will need to start primary school, but how do you know that your child will cope with the formal demands of school? Or be able to function to his/her full potential? As a parent, you may have lots of questions about this new phase in your child’s life. You would want to know that your child is ready to start their learning journey. If your child is not ready, it could influence his/her academic performance.
How do I know if my child is ready to start school?
The South African Schools Act states that school attendance is compulsory for any child from the age of 7 up to the age of 15. But how do you know if your child is school-ready? This is a question that many parents ask and there isn’t a straightforward answer. Some learners are late bloomers and aren’t emotionally ready for the pressure they encounter at school.
When must I seek professional help?
If you are uncertain if your child is ready for school, send them for a school readiness test at a registered therapist/psychologist. The assessment could put the following skills to the test:
Visual and auditory perceptual skills– how well the learner can interpret information taken in through the senses of sight and sound.
Concept development – whether the learner has mastered concepts such as colours, shapes, and time (e.g. do they know on which days they need to go to school), etc.
Fine motor and gross motor skills – the learner should be able to hold a pencil, use a pair of scissors, add beads on a string, etc.
Emotional skills– the learner should be able to work independently and, in a group, and be able to share the teacher’s attention as learners in Grade 1 are given less individual attention.
The school readiness assessment will help determine whether your child needs additional support. Sometimes learners just need a little more practice to grasp certain concepts or if there is a learning barrier, the learner may need individual attention to overcome it. In other cases, the learner may need extra help on a more permanent basis. The best time to seek professional help is at the end of Grade R or the year when your child turns 6. It is better to make sure your child is ready and be proactive than to find out later that he/she must repeat Grade 1.
What if your child doesn’t cope in a mainstream school?
After the first report in Grade 1, it will be evident whether your child is coping in school or not. A lot of factors can play a role. Sometimes the learner doesn’t understand the teacher, or the pressure is too much. Sometimes the learner feels overwhelmed with all the activities at school, e.g. classwork, group activities, sport, etc. The learner may have a learning barrier or doesn’t get all the attention he/she needs to perform well. Whatever the case, if your child doesn’t cope in school, you should consider all your options.
Alternative education
There are a lot of options to consider, so break away from narrow-minded thoughts or people that will influence you negatively. You could consider home education (otherwise known as homeschooling). Homeschooling will allow your child to spend more time on difficult subjects as it allows learners to study at their own pace. It also provides a nurturing learning environment for children with individual needs.
You can also look for a school with less pressure, with smaller classes or with a different curriculum, whatever you choose it is important to put your child first and that you do what is best for him/her and not what society prescribes.
We’re all on edge because of the coronavirus. Our daily lives have been disrupted, we aren’t sure what tomorrow may bring, and, for many of us, the nonstop news and social media coverage are overwhelming. Therefore, it is not uncommon to feel anxious or worried during this time. If you or your children are feeling worried, learning how to deal with anxiety in a healthy way can help the whole family be more resilient, both now and when the pandemic is finally over.
What is anxiety?
Anxiety can be described as feelings of uneasiness or being worried when there is not necessarily any imminent danger present. It is often accompanied by intrusive and often unrealistic “What if” types of thoughts, experienced in the body as stress that continues even after the cause of the stress is gone.
What can parents do to support their children?
Many parents are experiencing a more difficult time dealing with COVID-19 than their children and some of the anxiety that kids are experiencing may be unintentionally passed on by worried parents. As parents, it is important to be a positive role model for your children and this includes showing them how to deal with anxiety during stressful events. You can create a positive and safe atmosphere in the home environment by doing the following:
Living in the “here and now” by focusing on, and staying in touch with, what is actually happening and not getting carried away with worst-case scenarios.
Identifying and getting help for your own anxieties first.
Being smart about what you read. Make sure your information comes from trustworthy and credible sources. While it is important that we are informed about how best to keep our families safe, we should be mindful about what we are reading online to make sure it’s actually helpful and not making our anxiety worse. It is easy to get sucked into clicking on “fake news” inadvertently or forwarding social media posts to your family group without verifying them or applying common sense.
Being aware of feel-good news and sharing these stories with your children to facilitate a more positive mindset and create awareness of the “silver lining” despite the crisis.
Sticking to an established routine that involves exercise, regular meals, and healthy amounts of sleep – this is crucial for regulating our moods and our worries. It can be hard to accept that our old routines are no longer possible because of COVID-19 precautions. Looking for ways to be flexible and starting new routines can help you and your family create a more productive and healthier lifestyle that can help to lower the amount of anxiety you experience.
Monitor your children
Parents do not always recognise signs of anxiety in their children. Identifying anxiety in your child can be tricky because it involves a pattern of behaviours that is unique to each child. The following behaviours could indicate anxiety:
Reassurance-seeking (“Are we going to be okay? Is Grandpa going to be okay?”)
Younger Learners – Younger children may not always be able to express how they are feeling. For younger children, use a “feelings chart” with pictures describing emotions instead of saying “Tell me how anxious you are”. With a feelings chart, which you can find on the internet, you can ask your child to point to the feeling and/or picture representing an emotion that they are currently experiencing. They can also draw pictures about things they feel happy or sad about.
Older learners – For children who are more aware of, and able to articulate, how they are feeling, it is better to ask what psychologists call “forced-choice questions.” If you ask a vague question, you’re going to get a vague answer. So instead of asking “How was your day?” which is pretty vague, maybe ask “Did your anxiety get in the way of you having a good day today?”.
Teenagers – If you have teenagers, start talking about yourself first. You can start the conversation with something like, “I saw this article today and it made me wonder about this and that. Did you experience something like that? What’s your reaction to it?”. Do not force your teenager to talk about their feelings unwillingly as this can create tension and cause them to feel hostility towards you. Wait a bit first and then attempt to discuss the matter with them at a later stage when they are calm and more willing to talk. If this still does not work, they can use a journal or art activities to express their feelings and experiences.
Structure their day. As parents, we often think that setting boundaries for a child is a way to make our lives easier, but kids benefit from boundaries, too. It is easy for children to get bored or fretful if they are facing a day without structure and anxiety can thrive under those circumstances. Make sure that you are structuring their days when they are “cooped up” at home.
Alternate chores or schoolwork with more fun activities that your children enjoy and periods of free time.
As restrictions lift, be sure to incorporate safe, outdoor activities that comply with social distancing principles as well. Make sure children are still getting the chance to exercise.
Encourage your child to socialise with friends via video chats and social media if they have access to these platforms. This is especially important for teenagers who thrive on social interaction with their peers.
Avoid giving too much reassurance. Avoid getting into a cycle of providing too much reassurance. Children of all ages can become too reliant on reassurance and want to hear it more and more often, and when a parent isn’t able to give them complete reassurance, their anxiety can worsen. Instead, try the following:
Remind kids of the things they are doing to take care of themselves (like washing their hands, wearing a mask when in public, and staying indoors),
Remind children of what they can still enjoy despite challenges,
Encourage children to focus on the present.
Give them hope for the future, by asking them to make a list of, or draw things, they are looking forward to doing when the lockdown is over. This creates a sense that current circumstances are only temporary.
Don’t be afraid to discuss the coronavirus. Not talking about something can make children worry more. Convey the facts in a realistic and reassuring way. You can, for example, say, “People are getting sick, but most of them get well and healthy again”.
Acknowledge your own anxiety. Take care of yourself. Remember to “put the oxygen mask on first” before you help your child. If your own wellbeing is compromised, you might miss signs that your child is struggling, and you will not be able to support them as best you can.
Focus on what you’re doing to stay safe. Kids feel empowered when they know what to do to keep themselves safe. Remind them that if they wash their hands frequently and wear their masks in public, they will be safe. You can create a handwashing song to make this activity more fun for younger children.
Calm yourself. Don’t share your worries with your children or become panicked. If you are feeling anxious, find ways to deal with these anxieties. The way you react to the current crisis will teach your children how to deal with future challenges.
Be aware of signs and symptoms that your child may be experiencing anxiety. Now is not the time to “wait and see”. Seek professional help if your child’s normal functioning is impaired by their anxiety.
In an age of materialism and instant gratification, it can be tricky knowing how to reward our children appropriately for a job well done. How do we reward them for tidying their rooms effectively or performing well at a particular task? There are a few ways in which you can reward your child and build their self-esteem.
Develop your child’s internal locus of control
Naturally, we would love our children to do something well purely for the satisfaction that it brings them in doing so. This is what we, as parents, aim for eventually and is called developing the child’s internal locus of control – in other words, doing something from within because the result feels good. If we build our children’s internal locus of control, they will be more motivated to succeed as they will attribute their success to their own efforts and abilities.
However, we all know that to eventually inculcate an internal locus of control in our children, it starts with an external locus of control – in other words, children doing things for rewards.
The most basic form of reward starts early and is one that is easily forgotten, and that is praise. When we praise our children for doing something well, it motivates them to continue trying in that area. There are different forms of recognition, but the most effective is those that describe the behaviour that we want to see the child doing more of, for example:
“I love how you started doing your homework without me asking you to.”
“I love how you put away all your Lego blocks.”
One of the best ways to shape a child’s negative behaviour is by ‘catching them being good’ and then commenting on it as the child starts to try harder to gain more of that positive feedback. Praising the child’s efforts and not the result is an essential part of praising – as again, this motivates children to try harder.
Avoid arbitrary praise
It is crucial that we don’t just praise willy-nilly, for instance, just telling our children that they are pretty, talented, smart, etc. as that can create a subconscious pressure always to be that way and to become scared of failure if not achieving on that level. That is why praise that describes specific behaviours is so much healthier and more motivating and gives them the positive concept of someone who always tries and, in that way, achieves results. We want our children to learn that rewards are not something that just happens but require some form of input and effort to gain them.
The aim for the parent is to mould a desirable behaviour; the aim for the child is to get something they want, so everybody wins when we reward desirable behaviour. There are several ways in which to do this, including:
Star charts are an age-old form of giving rewards as the child must do something consistently to achieve the reward. For younger children, star charts should not go on for longer than five days before the child gets the reward they are working towards, as it can be difficult to sustain the effort. When children are given stars, tokens, or stickers to get to the final goal, it motivates them to continue working towards the goal.
Contingency rewarding is also helpful such as the child being allowed to gain or do something when they have done something we require. For instance: “Mom, can I go on my iPad now?” “As soon as your homework is done, you can use the iPad with pleasure.” Quid pro quo rewarding like this is just a shortened form of star charts and teaches children to prioritise by first doing what must be done before doing what they would like to do. This starts to prepare them for the higher grades where there is often far more work and more things to fit in.
Extra time on various activities is an easy, useful way to reward our children. Sometimes it can be challenging to think of rewards for our children but giving them extra time in addition to what they may be allowed per day doing something they love like soccer, technology, or screen time is a good incentive. Again, this can work in a quid pro quo way of motivating them to push a little harder to get a little more of what they want.
Decide on appropriate rewards
The most important thing is to know your child’s currency as that gives you leverage as the parent. Rewarding them with things they already have free access to is not motivating but rewarding them with something they really want is a useful form of motivation.
If they hate marshmallows, promising them marshmallows when they have finished the task is useless, so make sure you know what your child loves but be rational. You are not promising a trip to Disney Land for tidying up their room or finishing their homework successfully. However, after successive efforts at doing their homework effectively, they may earn a trip to get ice cream or go to see a movie.
Rewards must be appropriate and attuned to your child’s desires, for example:
Screen time, special activities or outings are ideal for younger children
Airtime or data might be more appropriate for older children
Simple rewards can also include:
Getting their favourite treat in their lunch box
Choosing their favourite dinner
Choosing a movie to watch with the family
Going somewhere with mom or dad, e.g. the war museum, a skateboard park, taking the dogs for a walk, etc.
The rewards listed above are all easy, healthy rewards. The important lesson is that they are working to gain something worthwhile.
Eventually, our children will move to an internal locus of control where they want to achieve. Where seeing the fruits of their efforts and feeling the satisfaction that comes from that is more than good enough. Until then, we need to be creative in our efforts, always keeping in mind what goal we want to achieve in rewarding them.
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