Teaching Kids to Read and Respect Their Body

Author: Kristen Deleo

We all know it's important for kids to learn to read words. Did you also know it's beneficial to teach kids to read their own body? Young athletes develop a respect for their body that comes from knowing the magnificent ways their body responds to the demands of exercise. Studies have shown that kids who respect their body are less likely to do things to harm their body, like smoke or use drugs. So it's important that we, as parents and educators, teach kids a few simple principles of exercise response.

Don't worry—you won't be bogged down with the science. Kids learn best by doing. So the next time your little ones are running on the soccer field or taking the family dog for a walk, point out a few things happening in the amazing machine that is their body. Use your kids' natural love for exercise as a teaching opportunity. Here is a simple guideline:

Imagine the body is a well-oiled machine, like a car. As it zooms around the track, it stops at a few checkpoints along the way.

Body Checkpoint #1
After the onset of activity, prompt your kids to stop briefly and notice how their body feels. Ask them, "Do you feel warmer, like you want to take your jacket off?" Or, "Do you feel like your body is waking up?" Explain that their heart and lungs are stepping up to the challenge of the activity. Blood is moving faster through out their body, warming up their muscles.

Body Checkpoint #2
At the height of their workout, signal your kids to take notice of how their body is responding to an even higher demand. By using the "Talk Test," you can show them how hard their lungs are working. Here's how: While exercising, ask your kids to sing a simple song or recite the Pledge of Allegiance. They'll notice that their breathing is a little labored in doing so—concrete evidence that they're working hard. During intense exercise, you can direct them to put their hand over their heart where they will be able to feel it pounding. Explain that their heart is pumping blood, which carries oxygen to their working muscles. (In a future column we'll explore ways kids can use math to check their heart rate.)

Body Checkpoint #3
It's important for kids to learn that sweating is a good thing. Some kids actually avoid sweating because they associate it with being dirty or stinky. Teach kids that the body is like a machine, and sweating is its cooling system. Sweating prevents the machine from overheating. Encourage kids to embrace sweating by saying, "If you're sweaty say hot tamale!" or some other fun phrase. Also, give out high-fives for sweat. Kids love to wipe their foreheads and give you a wet one.

Body Checkpoint #4
To better understand how the muscles respond to exercise, instruct your kids to do a wall sit. Here's how: Stand against a wall with feet hip distance apart. Edge your feet away from the wall as you slide down into a sitting position (without letting their bum touch the ground). After thirty seconds or so, you'll feel a burning sensation in the quads. That's your cue to stand up and stretch the quads. It's exciting for kids to actually feel the muscles working. But even if kids aren't doing a specific strength training exercise, like a wall sit, it's still important to stretch the working muscles. Running around a basketball court, for example, challenges many muscles in the body and requires recovery stretching. To illustrate this concept, make a fist to represent how a muscle looks when it's contracted. Imagine how uncomfortable it would be to hold that tense position all day? Then slowly open your hand to model how that muscle looks when it relaxes into a stretch.

Body Checkpoint #5
Ask your kids how they feel after completing their intense activity. Relaxed? Proud of themselves? Happy? Those warm and fuzzy feelings are easy to explain. Exercise releases endorphins in the body. Endorphins are hormones that reduce stress and boost your mood. It's just another fascinating way the body works.

All these checkpoints will help you illustrate to your kids how "cool" their body is. Of course, in the lexicon of kids, "cool" brings respect.