“Stop fidgeting.” “Sit still.” “Don’t run in the hallway.” “Don’t jump on the couch.”
Parents have been saying these kinds of things to kids forever – or at least as long as hallways and couches have been around. It’s accepted that a child who will stay quietly by your side when you’re out, behave calmly inside the house and walk obediently around the school is a “good” child.
How often will a stranger compliment you on your child who is running up and down the aisle of the train, standing on their head in the library or climbing a tree in the churchyard?
But with a quarter of Australian children either overweight or obese, is it time to rethink how we talk to kids – and about kids? Should we perhaps be encouraging running around and boisterous behaviour generally?
That’s what childhood fitness experts are saying. A new report by a parliamentary group in the UK says telling children to “sit still” sets them up for a lifetime of obesity.
“Identification of a ‘good’ child as one who sits still – as opposed to a happily mobile child – needs to be resisted and challenged,” the report says.
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Dr Natasha Schranz, co-chair of Active Healthy Kids Australia, thinks we should all change our perceptions.
“I’m a parent of two young girls, and my girls definitely don’t like to sit still for long periods of time,” she says. “Everyone just needs to ease up a little bit and let kids move as they want to.”