Psychomotor activities as a solution to childhood obesity.

CHILDHOOD obesity in Spain, in January 2017, exceeds 30% and, if we do not remedy it, in 2028 it will reach 70%. Click here to see the statistical data of the WHO, World Health Organization.

Sincerely, these data put the “creeps”. Even if one thinks that they can not be true, that this data does not affect you, your children, or your family because at home you eat healthy and exercise a lot … no one is unaware of the temptation, whatever its name is: junk food, drinks with “overdose” of sugar or food with additives.

You may ask, what does all this have to do with child psychomotricity?
Well, I would say a lot or everything. Statistical data are used to think, analyze, take action and solve problems, in this case, obesity.

We are constantly told by customers that children “have to play in the park”, exercise and eat healthy, instead of having fizzy drinks or carbonated pastries and drinks. Lately, they also tell me: “Jorge, this year we are going to allocate more space to the psychomotor room so that the children can exercise a lot”. Well, they tell me this and if I can give them a discount.

100% of those responsible for children agree that kids, even those of an early age, lead a sedentary life because they are hooked mostly to the mobile phone, the computer and the TV. I think this is normal because we live in the age of technology and it is IMPOSSIBLE for us to live outside these devices at school, at home, on the street … And if any child does not have a cellphone, some friend will surely let him play with his, a relative will give him a gift sooner or later, or he will manage to get one.

In fact, in the “Era of Technology”, it is necessary to know how to handle mobile phones, tablets and computers. The problem is that the excessive use of these devices, causes children to lead a sedentary life instead of doing daily exercise. If we add to this the feeding with excess sugar and additives (although we are not aware when we buy food in the supermarket), the children will be obese since they an early age. And most seriously, obesity will accompany the child, if not remedied, throughout his life.

How to solve this problem? Very simple, promoting psychomotor skills from an early age. Indeed, the child will engage in sports and healthy living instead of hooking up to a mobile phone, technology and junk food.

Psychomotricity has many benefits for human beings, especially for the smallest. We will talk about this later.

* What is psychomotricity?

The word psychomotricity is composed of two terms: motor, which refers to movement, and psycho or psychic, which refers in this case to socio-affective, emotional, cognitive and symbolic activity. The psychomotricity aims to develop the motor, creative and expressive possibilities through the use of the body, with the aim of contributing to the integral development of the individual so that it adapts in a flexible and harmonious way to the environment that surrounds it.

Moreover, we can say that the main elements that psychomotor activity studies, are: the motor functions, the psychic functions, the environment and the interaction between all of them.

Psychomotricity also aims to treat disorders.

The psychomotrist is the person who accompanies and gives meaning to all the activity that the user performs in the psychomotricitor room, which is his work tool.

The psychomotricitor room, we call it “Multi-room Tamdem” because it has all the necessary tools for any discipline (such as children’s education, occupational therapy, sensory integration, children’s gymnastics…), it is the place where users can interrelate, simulate the real world and, therefore, not take real risks. In this space the spontaneous expressiveness of the user is favored and their learning is possible, being a stay that gives security to develop their potential and, in the same way, incorporate norms related to their environment, work as a team and respect rules.

In a Multi-room of Tamdem, we have all the psychomotricitor modules necessary for good development of the Sensory Integration of babies and children. From zero to seven years old is the age range in which the human being has its greatest cerebral plasticity (a characteristic that refers to the ability of the nervous system to change its structure and its functioning throughout his life). We understand Sensorial Integration to the act of organization that the human brain performs of all the sensations it receives from the eyes, hearing, touch and ALL the organs of the body. When the Sensorial Integration is correct the child will behave in a productive way (his brain will use the sensations potentially to create perceptions, behaviours and learning). The book “Sensory integration and the child” by A. Jean Ayres explains in detail what sensory integration is and offers advice for parents. Click here to see a summary of the book and the index.

And a child, where can he/she find a “Multi-room of Tamdem” or a psychomotor room?

Currently all centers and nursery schools have a psychomotor room. There are also various rooms for Child Development and Therapy, Sensory Integration, Early Stimulation, Occupational Therapy, Psychomotor Gymnasiums and play centres scattered throughout our geography, where children have the possibility of developing their psychomotor skills and sensory integration. There are rooms with modules of psychomotricity such as stairs, ramps, cylinders, curlers, slides, cubes, arches, climbing walls, braking stairs, ball pools, vestibular swings… The children LOVE these rooms because for them, the modules of psychomotricity are toys with which they perform exercises without stopping for hours and it is also a place where they learn while playing.

The Amara Berri centre of Donosti, in Guipúzcoa, is a referent nursery school in this field and its teaching model has already been extended to more than 20 centres throughout Spain. Every day, kids from 0 to 6 years old begin their journey in the psychomotor room destroying a wall and then start playing, simulating real life as if they were in a supermarket, in a trawler, in a country house, in a plane…. or where they want, since the purpose of the Tamdem psychomotor modules that make up the room is to give free reign to their imagination. The children of Amara Berri, when they reach the age of 6, handle mathematics, currencies, prices of things, imagination, creativity, research, respect for standards, teamwork and the ability to solve problems equal or better than an adult.

* What are the benefits of psychomotricity?

Thanks to the psychomotor skills the child will develop his motor skills and also those related to the intellectual, social, linguistic and affective.

The main benefits of psychomotor skills are:

The EXCELLENT transition towards sports. If you want your child to be fond of sports, it is best to start with psychomotor activities. Many gyms have already incorporated child psychomotricity to their service offerings.
Improvement and good development of the proprioceptive system (position and movement of your body).
Improvement and good development of the vestibular system (the notion of gravity, movement of the head and balance).
Body development and motor skills: awareness of the body, control of breathing, sense of rhythm, mastery of balance, arms-legs coordination, the definition of laterality, improvement of muscle tone.
Intellectual development.
Teamwork.
Respect for norms
Development of the imagination.
Development and improvement of creativity.
Adaptation to the outside world.

OTHER ARTICLES OF INTEREST:

How to set up a psychomotricity room (click to read).
Benefits of Climbing walls (click to read).
Brachiation ladders: Benefits and how to use them? (click to read).
Technical help for handicapped people (especially for cerebral palsy) (click to read).
What is the use of child psychomotricity? (click to read).
Equipments for Early Stimulation rooms and their relationship with brain plasticity (click to read).
Benefits of natural psychomotricity (click to read).
How to set up a psychomotor room at home? (click to read).
Unknown pleasures of psychomotor skills (click to read).
Mats for psychomotricity, occupational therapy, early stimulation rooms and gymnastics (click to read).
How to perform psychomotor activities at home (click to read).

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