Covid, games and sports for children and teenagers at home. ISS advice
Lockdown Italy, extension with some changes
April 11, 2020
The gray swan, the economy to come and parallel internet networks
April 14, 2020
Exercise, as seen, it is essential to improve physical health and mental well-being. Also under quarantine from Covid-19. (1)
And it is also essential to involve children and teenagers with movement games and sports at home. The advice of ISS (Istituto Superiore di Sanità) and some notes of parental experience. Generation Z
Movement games for everyone
Some activities they are indicated by ISS for development in all age groups and sharing with other family members. Some examples:
- free movement. Hops, somersaults, stretching,
- music. Not just listening but movement, coordination, dance,
- drawing and sculpture. Motility and creativity in 3D printing with the hands in the dough (eg clay),
- reading. Reading aloud is itself a useful breathing exercise, as well as stimulating language, learning and interaction.
Parents, love and responsibility
To parents it is up to the task of setting the example of an active and healthy life. This is one of the best expressions of love for children, showing and teaching them to live well, in Respect for others as for themselves. Exercise and balance in the diet, the basis for good health, must therefore become part of family habits.
Obesity infantile and minors is the epidemic plague - in Italy including in Europe e across the entire planet - to keep in mind. And parents are primarily responsible for excluding junk food from the shopping cart, for the sake of their children.
Physical activity for kids and teens, here's why
Physical activity - in the form of a game, for the little ones - it is useful to mark the rhythms of the day, as well as to give vent to emotions and tensions. The ISS also invites us to interrupt the hours that everyone spends in front of the TV screens, tablets e smartphone.
Thus it is prevented obesity, overweight and related diseases (Non-Communicable Diseases, NCDs. Type 2 diabetes in the first place). But also osteoarticular and sleep disorders, aggressive behaviors, irritability. And the difficulties of concentration, attention and understanding. Mens sana in corpore sano.
Fewer screens, more games
A limit of two hours a day in front of the screens, in addition to those necessary for teaching, is indicated by the ISS as a goal of family balance. The Institute even suggests completely excluding children before the age of 4 from using electronic devices. Difficult goals to achieve, especially when adults themselves are engaged in smart working or bound by 'digital solidarity'. But it is certainly useful, at least, to try to reduce exposure to screens.
'The game is functional and directly proportional to sensory and motor development as it promotes the mastery of developing skills' (ISS, see note 2). Movements and reflexes, creativity, problem solving, body and emotional consciousness, language, cognitive and social skills.
The sport it also helps the older ones to react to the sense of frustration and constraint generated by limitations. And therefore to manage stress, improve general well-being, gratify self-esteem and increase self-confidence.
Games and exercise, how long?
The ISS offers a series of general indications, in relation to the age of children and young people:
- infants, up to the first year of age, they can be involved in movement games for up to about half an hour every day,
- between 1 and 4 years, children need about 3 hours of play, and in the age group
- between 3 and 4 years, one of the three indicated hours should involve moderate to vigorous activity. Run, jump several times, dance at a brisk pace, so as to stimulate some sweat, breathing and heartbeat,
- from 5 to 11 years it is sufficient that moderate / vigorous activity is carried out 3 times a week, for about an hour. Including exercises useful for strengthening the musculoskeletal system.
Play and movement for children
His game at any age. More or less at least, since each media is made up of individuals and each expresses their own attitudes. The ISS offers some suggestions of games and exercises, in relation to the various stages of development (2, 3). Further hints of joyful paternal experience (Dongo).
Between 0 and 6 months, the newborn explores the environment. With touch, manipulation of objects, but also music. Physical contact - with the parent, grandfather, nanny or brother - is important in its continuity. And the dance with the puppy in his arms is splendid, supporting his head which his neck still does not support. Mild music, deep sounds rather than classical, from Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan to Johann Strauss II (Blue Danube, music for angels).
Between 6 and 12 months, the little one can be encouraged to move every part of the body and become aware of it. Soft mats to roll on, games to reach a little beyond the starting position, fingers to grasp. The motor skills develop, without giving up the joy of attention and closeness, physical contact, music and rocking.
Between 12 and 36 months, the child develops cognitive and motor skills, progressively focuses on the activities that most stimulate him. Interest in animals is growing (which in Italy are often also present in homes, pending the reopening of educational farms and agritourisms). The psychomotor courses are as useful and fun as the games that each child chooses in an often inscrutable way, even among the objects of the house.
Between 3 and 4 years, the ISS suggests games of movement, such as the mirror game (learning to copy the movements of others) or jumping rope on a soft mat. And many many others, in an age where coordination grows from week to week, almost as much as the fun in self-confidence.
Between 5 and 7 years, principle of school age, the game of movement can be combined with cognitive exercise. More interconnected than you might think. The gesture combined with the word can fix alphabets, numbers, words in the mind. Learning is a game, the sky in a room. Some games are also suggested by Save the Children. (4)
Games and exercises for the older ones
8 to 11 years old the game requires more mental effort and fatigue, the energy begins to release and needs to be vented. Group games are winning but quarantined tend to be static, through chat. At home it is useful to unload yourself by meeting a limit in the physical obstacle, such as a large pillow like a punching bag, the wall where you can throw the foam rubber ball. And the jumps on oneself, to the rope if space permits.
In adolescence (12-17), ISS reiterates the importance of spelling one routine daily where a series of different activities (in addition to studying) find space. Music and dance, reading and drawing. And it is important to foster the continuity of social relationships with friends and schoolmates, even if remotely. Exercise responds to disruptive hormones, thus lends itself to intensity, breath and effort. Just like adults, even better if they are together at home.
Generation Z
La Generation Z (o post-Millennials) - that is, the growing community of those born after 1997 - is made up of digital natives. (5) After the first years of school these children have learned better than us the functionality of social networks which they currently use to relate. I'm responsive, they learn quickly and tend to shorten concentration times.
The idea to teach the blind fly to one Zen Ger in school age it could therefore be out of date. Conversely, intensive family coexistence in the Covid-19 era can be worth sharing daily gestures in the context of a healthy, hard-working and altruistic lifestyle. Practicing half an hour of training together every day can impress you hardware a great habit. Cooking together, helping each other and sharing essential chores. The common good in front of the individual perspective, without lacking in physical exercise.
'Coronavirus Guide to the Galaxy'
'The Coronavirus Guide to the Galaxy' is the latest gem. A short manual a download free, developed by those who work with children and young people, in the various museums and educational spaces dedicated to them. (6) The guide serves to explain - also to families - how and why this'microbe from afar'is changing everyone's habits. And what habits to develop, in small daily gestures, to minimize the risks. With that level of attention that can banish fear.
Dario Dongo and Marina De Nobili
Note
(1) Gymnastics in quarantine, the ABC of the National Institute of Health, https://www.egalite.org/ginnastica-in-quarantena-labc-dellistituto-superiore-di-sanita/
(2) ISS, games for children, https://www.epicentro.iss.it/coronavirus/sars-cov-2-stili-vita-attivita-fisica-0-11-anni.
Cards for children:
-up to 5 years, https://www.epicentro.iss.it/coronavirus/pdf/sars-cov-2-stili-vita-attivita-fisica-0-4-anni.pdf,
-from 5 to 11 years, https://www.epicentro.iss.it/coronavirus/pdf/sars-cov-2-stili-vita-attivita-fisica-5-11-anni.pdf.
(3) ISS, movement for adolescents, https://www.epicentro.iss.it/coronavirus/sars-cov-2-stili-vita-attivita-fisica-12-17-anni.
The form for ages 12-17, https://www.epicentro.iss.it/coronavirus/pdf/sars-cov-2-stili-vita-attivita-fisica-12-17-anni.pdf
(4) Let's train the mind, 8 activities to do at home with children. Save the Children, 28.3.20, https://www.savethechildren.it/blog-notizie/alleniamo-la-mente-8-attivita-da-fare-casa-con-bambini
(5) Matt Kleinschmit. Generation Z Characteristics: 5 Infographics on the Gen Z Lifestyle. Vision Critical blog, 7.10.19, https://www.visioncritical.com/blog/generation-z-infographics
(6) Children's Museum of Rome (2020). The galactic guide to the coronavirus (video),
Dario Dongo, lawyer and journalist, PhD in international food law, founder of WIISE (FARE - GIFT - Food Times) and Égalité.
Graduated in law in Trento, she follows a master's degree in food law at Roma Tre. She is passionate about food and wine, she is between culture and tradition.
