Tooled Up Education

To mark National Fitness Day, we want to help our children celebrate what their bodies can do, get them active, and boost their confidence! A huge body of research shows the benefits that regular exercise and a good level of physical fitness can have in terms of health, wellbeing and academic performance. We also know as parents that sometimes it’s hard to get young people moving!

Physical activity for young people often begins by putting down their devices! This fun and varied list of activities to try instead of looking at a smartphone covers ideas from high jumps to handstands. If your child can’t quite find the right activity to capture their interest, take a look at these 100 Sports for children and teens to try.

Fitness and wellbeing are also built on the foundation of a healthy and nutritious diet, and an understanding of why the fuel we put into our bodies matters. Show younger children this video on “charging up” their bodies and brains. Sporty teens will benefit from this webinar with nutritionist Dan Richardson on Optimising Nutrition for Young Athletes. And don’t forget the importance of sleep: watch this expert webinar on understanding children’s and young people’s sleep and “what works” if you have any sleep issues.

Another important aspect in getting young people active is confidence. We know that too many children and young people  put off exercise because of body attitudes. We collected this list of resources to help boost young people’s body image. Try our downloadable activity promoting body gratitude for teens and tweens. Parents of girls will find our video on increasing girls’ participation in sport useful, and this expert podcast on encouraging girls to be physically active.

The flip side of confidence is resilience, and once children become competitive in their sport then they’ll need some coping strategies for those difficult games and dips in performance. Here is a webinar with former professional hockey player Holly Cram on boost young athlete’s emotional and physical resilience, along with our tips on developing resilience to losing.

Finally, we’d love to invite all Tooled Up parents to our upcoming Reaching Boys Early conference on November 8th. Our expert panel will cover boys’ wellbeing, confidence, body image and much more. It promises to be a day filled with useful insights and practical advice.