Fitness for kids: How far is too far?

By NATALIA HAWK

When I was three, my mum signed me up for dance class. She bought me a little black leotard and matching little black bike shorts and took me to the classes, which involved very little dancing and lots of clapping and skipping around a room.

I wasn’t a particularly co-ordinated child, and couldn’t actually skip, but that didn’t matter at all. Because I was three. No-one expects you to be Beyonce or anything.

I think most Australian kids have a similar story. We usually start sport at a very early age – dancing, or gymnastics, or swimming, or soccer – and it isn’t taken at all seriously. Which is a good thing, because encouraging three-year-olds to be competitive would be really silly when they’re only just figuring out how to catch a ball. I’ve seen those Sunday kiddie soccer games. It’s like herding cats. Cats that happen to be wearing ridiculously cute little jerseys.

It’s obviously great to get kids active at a young age – especially if they end up finding something that they really, really enjoy. But this week, I think kiddie fitness reached a bit of an extreme level… with the introduction of CrossFit for toddlers.

You’ve probably heard of CrossFit. It’s an incredibly demanding type of exercise that’s a cross between aerobics/gymnastics, body weight exercises and weight lifting. In an average CrossFit session, you may be required to do sprints, kettleball lifts, rope climbs, skipping, weights and many many other painful things. Lots of adults have been taking part and seeing serious results.

A gym in Long Island in the US has decided that kids shouldn’t miss out on all the pain fun. They’re going to begin offering CrossFit classes to kids as young as three. A kiddie version, with an emphasis on strength and conditioning.

I’m not sure why three year olds need strength and conditioning, but hey, what would I know?

The classes are quite exxy – $140/month for a weekly class – and kids will learn to do things like squats and overhead presses, bear crawls and crab walks, or building castles out of fitness mats. There won’t be any weights (thank goodness for that). And apparently the kids love it – they think they’re working out just like mum and dad do.

The gym’s site says that the classes help kids build community and foster teamwork, as well as increasing “physical competence… promoting self esteem and cultivating leadership skills; develop critical thinking and memory.”

There are a million opinions about this news, spread out all over the web. Some people are lamenting over the loss of the days when you could just send kids outside and let them run around in the backyard. Others don’t think it’s such a bad thing.

A commenter on The Stir wrote: “I think this is an awesome idea. i see it as the same as karate, gymnastics, or ballet: a venue for kids to be active and experience a structured class environment.” Another said: “I see no problem with exercise classes aimed at children… so long as the message that CHILDREN DO NOT HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT THEIR WEIGHT is made abundantly clear.”

But when does it go too far? If CrossFit classes are okay, are pole-dancing classes for kids okay? There have been increasing amounts of studios – yes, even in Australia – offering pole-dancing classes for girls as young as four. Because it’s a good workout. Just like soccer, really…

I don’t quite feel qualified to draw any conclusions because I’m not a parent, but I feel like – when the time comes – I might just stick to ballet and making the kids play in the backyard. For the sake of both my wallet and my sanity.

What do you think – are there some fitness classes that should be restricted to adults only? How far is too far when it comes to kids doing fitness classes?