Tag Archive for 'famiglia'

Parents’ role in the children sport development

Families are often faced with the decision of which sport their children should practice, and the media has recently been offering advice on this topic. There is ongoing debate about whether it is better for a child who is considered shy to engage in a team sport or an individual contact sport. Which option is best for encouraging socialization or building confidence, and so on?

People tend to forget that it would be better for children to practice multiple sports instead of just one, or that any sport is practiced in a group where each participant must collaborate. Usually, no one explains this to parents, who remain caught in the web of single-sport clubs that compete for their attention.

I also understand that a soccer school, a swimming club, or any other sports organization must pursue its own goals, which are to recruit as many members as possible to participate in a specific sport. In Italy, there is no solution to this issue with sports, so this model will continue.

However, there is an important role that parents can play, and they can do so entirely on their own. It concerns the free time that children have outside of school and their two sports practices. What do they do in this free time? Do they move, play with others, go to the park, or something else? Or do they stay at home alone, playing on the PlayStation or smartphone?

This time is extremely important for them to organize games and activities with their peers and learn to feel self-determined and progressively more autonomous. I would say this is a significant role that families can play, even while having fun with their children and fulfilling their educational role.

What can pediatricians do to reduce the distress experienced by children?

The potential role of pediatricians:

  1. Engage in conversations with parents about their children’s opportunities for independent activities that contribute to building self-confidence.
  2. Provide an overview of research findings as described in this report.
  3. Explain concepts such as locus of control and basic psychological needs and inquire about their children’s independent activities, as well as the constraints and fears that limit these freedoms.
  4. Collaborate with parents to find ways to overcome constraints and alleviate fears, taking into consideration the child’s age, neighborhood, and family living conditions.
  5. Work together in residential areas to create situations where children can play freely with other children, with an adult present solely for safety, without managing the play.
  6. Discuss with parents how to teach children to be safe in their independent activities, including how to cross streets, safety rules for bicycling, the benefits of moving with siblings or friends rather than alone (safety in numbers), and how to seek help when needed, as an alternative to depriving them of such activities.
  7. Utilize their position and knowledge in discussions with educators, social workers, city planners, legislators, and community leaders regarding policies and programs that either limit or expand children’s opportunities for independent activities.

In the United States, the non-profit organization Let Grow has been effectively working for several years, achieving some success in introducing free play and other independent adventures into public schools, altering state laws to provide parents with more freedom to make informed judgments about their children’s safety, and providing a catalog for parents and teachers with methods and reasons to allow children greater independence.

(Sources: Gray P, Lancy DF, Bjorklund DF. Decline in Independent Activity as a Cause of Decline in Children’s Mental Well-being: Summary of the Evidence. J Pediatr. 2023 Sep; 260:113352)

Amazing Nadal

Besides having a die-hard psychology maybe this is the most important secret of Nadal’s success: “I went through a lot of hard times, a lot of days of hard work without seeing the light, but continuing to work and getting a lot of support from my team and family.

“I went through a lot of challenging moments, a lot of days of hard work without seeing a light there but still working and receiving plenty of support from my team and family,” he told reporters of what sparked that emotional reaction.

“So a lot of conversations with the team, with family about what can happen or what will happen if things continue like this, thinking maybe it was a chance to say goodbye. That was not a lot of months ago.

“To be where I am today, I can’t explain in words how important it is to me in terms of self-satisfaction and being thankful for the support.”

“Every single day. For a lot of months, sometimes I went on court with the team and was not able to practice for 20 minutes, nowadays for 45 minutes, and then sometimes I was able to practice for two hours. It was very difficult to predict every single day and I was working with the doctor, trying to find a solution.When if he was over his injury, Nadal said: “Well, it’s difficult to think about it now, but, you never know.

“As I say a lot of times, when could you comeback from injuries that, unfortunately I know about it very well, things are always difficult and you need to go day by day.

“You need to accept the mistakes. You need to forgive yourself when the things are not going the proper way, because that’s the only way.

“You know at the beginning the things are going to be difficult.

“Of course, you will not have the best feelings sometimes on court, but staying positive, playing with the right energy and, of course, being on the tour, practising with the guys and winning matches, for sure, helps and last week had been important for me.

Summer camp for young with intellectual disability

It is difficult to talk about a summer camp for young people with intellectual disabilities with medium to severe disorders such as those we ended after three weeks of activity. The difficulty lies mainly in the fact that the activity was carried out on a 1 to 1 basis, which means that each young person was followed by an operator, who could be a psychologist or a coach. For them, as for those with a better level of functioning, the sports activity was alternated with the expressive activity for a total duration of 5 consecutive hours.

The sporting activity took place in a field of 5 soccer fields structured with a sequence of motor stations so that everyone was active at the same time without waiting. This allowed each child to be able to carry out the activity at their own pace, thus allowing them to take breaks according to their tiredness and their motivation to continue.

Having much more time available to carry out the activity, compared to the usual duration of the training of 60 minutes, has allowed everyone to take rather long breaks of 15/20 minutes while continuing to stay on the field and then resume it having a time available of 5 hours. This aspect also had a positive effect on the coaches who worked in the awareness of not having to urge the youngster to do the activity, as can happen during when the training time is much shorter.

It must also be said that each week the participants were active for 5 hours a day for a total of 25 hours, which in quantitative terms is equivalent to 3 months of training for two hours a week. Furthermore, these more limited functioning boys/girls are unlikely to come every workout, so it is not hard to imagine that for many this weekly number may have equated to 4 months of training.

Therefore, it should not be surprising that some of them have improved a lot even in just one week, which for them represented a completely new life experience, with an unknown personal involvement. This result was often reiterated by the parents who would have liked to continue this kind of activity for other weeks. The camp was also extended to their brothers and sisters. Not only did this allow the family to relieve themselves of the problem of their placement during this time in other summer leaders, but the games they played together enhanced their awareness that other families also have children like their brothers/sisters with disabilities. They discovered that there are activities that can be done together, that their siblings improve if they do an organized activity with others their age. In other words, an idea of everyday normalcy is spread among them that can exist if you are in a non-exclusive but interacting context.

The environments they usually attend are not organized in this way, but our summer camp demonstrates how it is possible to promote integration, without it becoming a pitiful activity or one of fake inclusion, in which the only element that unites is the condition of the same physical environment but which creates exclusion for the content practiced.

Survey: adolescents and school

National survey: Educational Poverty in Children and Youth in Italy

Economic poverty is often caused by educational poverty. The two feed off each other and are passed on from generation to generation.

In Italy, the most affected group by poverty is children. In 2005, 3.9% of minors under the age of 18 lived in absolute poverty and that number currently triples and exceeds 12%. In today’s Italy, the younger a person is, the more likely is to experience absolute poverty.

Educational poverty, on the other hand, prevents too many boys, girls, and young people from having equal “opportunities” for growth, by lacking access to child services, education, training courses, culture, musical education and art, sports, meeting places, and health care. Fighting against educational poverty, therefore, becomes a fundamental action for the development of the country. A real change is possible only by guaranteeing all minors equal access to quality education. To achieve this, there should be a common link between the local educational institutions, primarily between schools and families, but also between educational institutions and organisations from the third sector. By and large, it is a process that involves all those who are part of the “educational community”, including the children themselves, who from being recipients of services become protagonists in their own future.

The role of the family to promote their children development through the movement

Rhodes, R.E., Guerrero, M.D., Vanderloo, L.M. et al. Development of a consensus statement on the role of the family in the physical activity, sedentary, and sleep behaviours of children and youth. Int J Behav Nutr Phys Act 17, 74 (2020). 

The Canadian 24-Hour Movement Guidelines were recently developed to provide public health guidelines integrating recommendations for physical activity, sedentary, and sleep behaviours for the pediatric population ranging from 0 to 4 years and 5 to 17 years.

Children and youth who adhere to these guidelines are more likely to display healthy growth, body composition, cardiorespiratory and musculoskeletal fitness, cardiovascular and metabolic health, motor development, cognitive development, academic achievement, emotional regulation, pro-social behaviours, and overall quality of life.

Unfortunately, among Canadian children, only 13% of 3–4-year-olds, 17% of 5–17 year-olds, and 3% of 11–15 year-olds adhere to the Canadian 24-Hour Movement Guidelines. Similar low adherence to healthy movement behaviour recommendations among children and youth have been reported in samples from Australia, Belgium, Mozambique, New Zealand, Sweden, the United Kingdom, the United States, and even lower adherences in China, Singapore and South Korea.

Parenting practices that influence child and youth health behaviours include components of responsiveness (providing encouragement and autonomy), structure (providing social and physical environments) and demandingness (restrictive and punitive practices).

With constantly changing environments (including practices, policies, social norms, built features, technology) at home, childcare centres, schools and in communities, coupled with the new paradigm of integrated movement behaviours, the challenges for achieving healthy movement behaviours can be overwhelming for families and those who support them (e.g., public health professionals, health care providers, teachers, policymakers).

Active Healthy Kids Canada and ParticipACTION (Canadian not-for-profit organizations) have been producing Canadian Report Cards on Physical Activity for Children and Youth since 2005.

This Consensus Statement on the Role of the Family in the Physical Activity, Sedentary, and Sleep Behaviours of Children and Youth is the latest in this list of knowledge products and is contained within the 2020 ParticipACTION Report Card on Physical Activity for Children and Youth.

Higuain and Dybala: it’s difficult to play always at the best

Higuain and Dybala are the latest example of how two champions should be in crisis for the pressure due to the demand to play at their best, that for a striker means to score goals. This request is the essence of their work but that sometimes collide with the way of thinking and living the emotions. In fact, the need to always match the expectations of the club, fans, media and sponsors stimulates on the one hand, a pleasant feeling to feel important and valued so highly positive but of course it has a cost, consisting in the duty to live up to this request. This creates tensions which result in a negative effect on performance and, therefore, this explains the goals not scored by Higuain and the penalties missed by Dybala. Episodes easy to overcome said Allegri, Juventus coach, focusing on the next matches. Personally, I think these guys  need someone who can listen to their fears, teaches the players to accept these moments as part of what they do and  teaches them to stay focused on their skills when they get the doubts and concerns. Usually this is the work of the psychologist: The family or friend role is relevant. In fact,they have to provide a psychological and physical context in which to be able to be themselves and not the champions, but it will not help to solve these problems.

Totti’s farewell to the fans

Totti’s farewell to the fans: «his strength has been to show their fragility»

The sport psychologist Alberto Cei: «Now Francesco must seek a way to make peace with himself, to fill those voids that inevitably he will have»

Risultati immagini per totti

Motivation to outdoor activities

Youth outdoor participants see outdoor activities as a way to spend time with family and friends. While adolescents are also motivated by enjoying time with loved ones, slightly more participants in this age group cite exercise as their top motivator for outdoor  participation. Young adults are also motivated by exercise and much less motivated by family and friends.

What motivates you to participate in outdoor activities?

Age 6-12 13-17 18-24
Be with family/friends 77% 69% 49%
Get exercise 66% 72% 74%
Experience excitement/adventure 54% 46% 52%
Develop my skills/abilities 51% 51% 43%
It is cool 45% 31% 18%
Be with people who enjoy the same things  41% 45% 25%
Keep physically fit 36% 55% 59%
Be close to nature 32% 30% 44%
Develop a sense of self-confidence 26% 31% 33%
Enjoy the sounds/smells of nature 26% 27% 39%
Observe the scenic beauty 22% 26% 43%
Gain a sense of accomplishment 22% 31% 39%
Get away from the usual demands 18% 34% 49%
Be with people who share my value 14% 22% 17%
Talk to new/varied people 12% 13% 11%
Experience solitude 5% 11% 26%

 

Bombs was for the recreational runners and families

The bombs seemed designed more for the masses than the monumental. The explosions went off well after the small crowd of elite runners had crossed the finish line. (Last year’s average time was 4:18:27.) The thick stream of recreational runners — regular folk who would never have a shot at the Olympics — was flowing in then, and mothers and brothers and lovers and kids were waiting at the end to cheer them on. Just to run in the Boston Marathon, for them, was the moment of a lifetime.

Read More: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/more/news/20130415/aftermath-boston-marathon-explosions/#ixzz2QjN7jRgX 

A woman kneels and prays at the scene of the first explosion on Boylston Street near the finish line of the 117th Boston Marathon on Monday.