Children have to move. Hudson Silk.

Hudson Silk doing Parkour

Movement.  It's that simple.  The colloquialism, "Move it or lose it" is well founded.  It doesn't matter what your age is, it doesn't matter if you are too busy, and it certainly doesn't matter if you don't feel like it.   How many other excuses are there?  Thousands.

A great example of this is captured in the above image.  It can be hard to encourage young people to be active.  There are so many other things to do, and the commanding presence of electronics in their lives is constantly drawing them away from more important activities.  This is hardly unique to young people though.  How many of us are prevented from being active because of the lure of brightly coloured screens compounded by the deterrence of laziness?  The trick is to find a passion.

I want to encourage parents who have "tried everything" to get their children to be active but feel as though they have failed.  Keep at it.  Even the process of looking for something encourages them to move.  With each contraction, the muscles and bones grow stronger and the brain improves the body's coordination.  Even if they stop after six months, they just had six months of movement which would have not otherwise happened.

Hudson, the boy above, has parents who also have tried numerous things to get him interested in something; anything.  Then came along parkour.  This involves a gymnastics facility and the goal is to get around things blocking your way.  What's cool about it is that there are lots of ways to do this, and each technique exercises different muscles and all of it develops coordination and gross motor skills.

There is a solution out there, not only for the children but also for you.  Keep moving, you will only be all the better for it.