Suppressed and repressed childhood emotions often go undetected for years, primarily because parents are not aware of what is going on in the child’s mind and since some children are not very vocal about their emotions it could be years before things can be detected. Child counselors and mental health experts point out that there are however many signs that parents, elders, peers and teachers at school can be on the lookout for among children to ascertain the state of a child’s mental health.
Often pent up emotions can be given a place to release, sports, exercise, team work and games allows the child to let go of these toxic emotions that can take on a poisonous form if left unchecked. Experts are of the view that sports and fitness related curriculum should be initiated in schools at the earliest age to allow the child to develop skills other than academic proficiency. Academics though important cannot be considered as a stand- alone solution for child growth. Team sports like football, volleyball, basketball, cricket, hockey and many more allow a child to develop problem solving skills against opponents and also helps them build leadership skills along with opening them up to interactions on a social level. Team sports instill a bonding among children to trust their peers as in a result oriented sport one needs the trust of their peers to enable a positive outcome. Not all children though are comfortable with team sports; each individual child needs to be provided with a fitness regimen that they prefer. Some children with greater anger issues stemming from a varied range of stresses like bullying, domestic problems and traumatic childhood experiences need to counseled and also provided with fitness sports like martial arts, boxing, karate and many such intense solitary options allow a child to control their to vent out their and anger also teaches them to be in control of their emotions.
There are however some children who prefer a gentler approach to fitness, yoga, swimming, gymnastics, golf and plain old workouts in the gym are some of the options available for these children. Even indoor rock climbing has been developing as fitness solution over the years for children and adults alike. Rubber Flooring in gyms, gymnasiums, indoor rock climbing areas and parkour centers provides a safety solution to hard flooring which can be a cause of serious injury if someone falls. Gyms these days which are built for adolescents are designed specifically with their naughty nature in mind as they are prone to dropping things and hence rubber weights and rubber plates are used to prevent injury and any damage to floors.
Sports and fitness is as much a necessity for a child’s physical growth as it is for the mental aspect. It also allows the child to develop time management skills and helps them find a balance of school, family life and sports. Goal oriented sports allow a child to also develop sense of self worth along-with teaching them lessons like it is ok to lose once in a while. These skills if imbibed from any early age in a child’s school curriculum can help a long way in tackling childhood obesity, mental health issues, anger management and can bring about a general sense of well being in children when they grow up into adults. Also, Ronaldo, Virat Kohli, Michael Jordan, Roger Fedrer were all spotted while in school, so you never know who you might be training to shine in the world tomorrow.