By: Mike Collette

Have you ever wondered why you make your kids go to the dentist once or twice a year? To get their teeth checked? Get them cleaned? How often do they go to the doctor for their physical? Once or twice a year for a physical, maybe? To do what? Get a check up,  see how their health is doing right?
What do ou have your kids do before they go to the dentist, maybe the night before? I guarantee you have them brush their teeth like crazy, maybe floss for the first time in that year? Before they go to the doctor? Probably take a shower so they don’t smell? Drink a lot of water possibly? But we all brush our teeth everyday, so what’s the point of all these questions?
 
The most relavant question I’m about to pose to you is, this: These things take priority once a year. You brush your teeth everyday (hopefully 2-3 times) but do your kids exercise or take their overall health into consideration everyday? The general answer to this question is NO. The majority of America doesn’t take there health as serious as they do brushing their teeth.
 
Since childhood, my parents ingrained in my head to brush my teeth before bed and before school. They developed the “habits”, good habits that is. So why haven’t we developed the habit in the youth in our society that fitness should be just as important as a habit as brushing your teeth? Now granted, I know parents love getting their kids involved in athletics which is great but to be frank, your kids aren’t going to play soccer for the rest of their life and use it as a tool for general conditioning. More so it’s just fun and they enjoy the sports competitive nature. What needs to happen is make exercise and fitness the new habit of our youth.
 
Imagine if exercising everyday was set in stone as a habit as brushing your teeth, tying your shoes or putting on clothes before you go out? This could truly forge a better future for generations to come and possibly help cure the obesity epidemic. Your kids play outside with their friends, imagine if they were playing fitness based games where movement was the incentive? Lifting heavy objects, climbing, jumping, running the list goes on in terms of functional movements we can be having our youth do on a daily basis to promote fitness as a lifestyle.
 
Where does it start? It starts with the parents, it starts with the schools and more importantly their has to be a community built around fitness to encourage this change. That is why CrossFit Kids has been so successful because they are getting into the schools. The parents are training at a CrossFit facility where the have kids classes to help facilitate this transition. More importantly, the community has already been forged with over 6000 CrossFit affiliates worldwide!
Let’s start the movement, literally, with our youth to help develop the habit of fitness and exercise. The earlier the better!!!
 
Kids WOD
20 yd Bear Crawl
20 yd crab walk
20 yd broad jump
100m run
5 rds for time