Now more than ever before in human history kids today are inactive, weak, entitled and…..LAZY. We have been progressing in this direction for many generations now. If you don’t believe me ask your parents what their parents thought and said to them. Humans are progressively getting worse, because life is becoming easier. The smarter we get, the lazier we get.
In my mind I was super active and never sat still, ask my parents or other adult figures in my life and I was lazy and just wanted to play around….which isn’t completely wrong.
Now this is where we lose people, it isn’t our kids fault they are how they are. They didn’t ask for participation trophies or all the gifts and material things we post on social media. If they turned them down then they’d be called rude and ungrateful, so they are damned either way, so might as well take the gifts.
It’s also not their fault life is so easy now, we paid for it to be like this. We pay more than we can afford to have an easy life, but then expect our kids to work hard….life is evolving and it’s a good thing, but it comes with a price.
The physical strength and health of our kids and ourselves is fading. Cancer, Heart Disease, Diabetes, Obesity is at an all time high in every age grouping. Which also means injuries have increased in youth sports.
The human body is under more stress mentally and physically. We spend the majority of our days sitting or laying down, especially in 2020. Then when it comes time for sport or an activity we demand our body and muscles to respond and it just cant handle it.
Look at other countries, The Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico have a population of the state of Pennsylvania but make up for over 30 percent of our Major League Baseball players.
It’s easy to label it to genetics but in reality it comes down to their lifestyles compared to ours. They are less Morden countries, therefore at 1o years old they have to work harder day to day than we do. Which transfers to their bodies being able to handle the stressors of sports.
There are so many kids who love the idea of baseball but don’t love the effort it takes to be good, let alone great. Thankfully WE can fix it.
Between the ages of 7-14 kids have the ability to learn and move better than any point in their lives. This is when they can decide if they want to be a house Catt, or a tiger in the wild. Sure they can learn these traits before or after these ages, but this is the best time to instill good habits.
So as parents its on us to expose our kids to things that are going to increase their athleticism. Through different sports, training explosive like a jungle cat, some form of martial arts, or gymnastics. This doesn’t mean take a break from baseball though, that’s a good way to lose your spot. It means dedicate yourself to baseball and other movements. Work on strength and mobility in different areas will give you an overall advantage in all that you do.
Kids need to be challenged more, mentally and physically. Society says different but society is wrong. You don’t get stronger without resistance. Mike Tyson said it best, “everyone has a plan, until they get punched in the mouth.” Sure we all want everything to go smoothly but it doesn’t work that way. Life is constantly trying to knock us down, and if it does 9 times out of 10 it’s going to kick you until you get up. If you’re lucky someone will be there to help you up, but you have to be willing and able to pick yourself up also.
So how do we help our kids become stronger, faster, more mobile, and prepared for life…
-We allow them to fail on their own, then show them the right way until they get it right.
-We do things with them
-We show them how we do it
Show them how much you want it and they will eventually match your effort. Don’t just label them as not having “it” or not wanting “it” because none of us even really know what it is. encourage them to be great, tell them when they are slacking and reward them when they shine. You can’t constantly talk negatively to them, but you also can’t be positive all the time either. Don’t tell them good job if they didn’t do a good job. Show them where they messed up and fix it with them.