Children and Weight Training
When I was a child, I used to have a jungle gym in my backyard. You know the kind... monkey bars, a climbing rope, a set of hanging rings, and, of course, a swing. All the kids in the neighborhood, ages 5 through 12, would come to my backyard and play on it. We would climb, hang, and swing for hours. We always played unsupervised. There was no need for supervision. We lived in a very safe neighborhood and our parents were comfortable sending us out on our own to play.
We did some cool stuff on that jungle gym! One game involved climbing to the top, standing on the monkey bars (which were a good 6 feet off the ground), and jumping off! The goal was to land on your feet without falling.
Another game involved the swing. We would stand or sit on the swing and swing as high as we could. Once you got to the highest point, you would jump off and try to land as far from the jungle gym as possible. We would actually measure to see who got the greatest distance! One kid, who mastered the standing swing technique, held the neighborhood record with an amazing leap of 14 plus feet!!!
These were some pretty wild and risky games, but did anyone get hurt? Not at all! Maybe a few bumps, bruises, and an occasional scraped knee, but for the most part nobody became seriously injured.
Eventhough our parents wouldn't stand there and watch us, they knew about our "jungle gym" sports. I remember bragging to my father that "Billy just jumped 12 feet from the swing!" My Dad responded, "Wow, that kid is quite a jumper!" Never, I repeat NEVER, was the topic of broken bones, injured growth plates, or stunted growth brought up when discussing these fun, yet physical, activities.
Though it seems as if computers and video games have taken over the minds and bodies of todays' children, many still participate in the same physical activities that children of past generations did. In fact, I think most parents agree that children nowadays need to "get out and play" more frequently! Climbing, jumping, running, pulling, and pushing are not only fun activities, but also very safe and beneficial for building strong bodies.