Flip2BFit® is the newest
fitness craze for differently-abled kids!
The game combines nutrition trivia, yoga, stretching, and aerobic
exercises in a fast and fun workout appropriate for the whole family. Players compete individually or in teams in a
race through the park to meet “Springer” the dinosaur in the playground. Crab crawl, lunge, toe touch, and do the
downward dog to move your piece around the park. Make a poor nutrition choice and you’re going
to have to move back a few spaces!
Early and ongoing exercise helps differently-abled
children make significant strides toward purposeful movement and increased cognitive
and social development.
Gross motor skill development refers to a
child’s ability to effectively use the large muscle groups that control arm,
leg, and core body movement. These muscles support their body’s ability
to walk, reach, lift, throw, sit upright, and maintain balance and
coordination. Many differently-abled
children experience developmental delays in their ability to use their bodies’
large muscle groups.
Motor planning also presents differently-abled
children with enhanced challenges. To
understand motor planning, think about trying to cross a stream by stepping on
rocks. You need to evaluate which rocks will best help you cross the
stream without falling in, right? Then, you step, hop and jump from one
to the next using your arms to create momentum and maintain balance. You
may also have to adjust course during the trip. Differently-abled
children need extra practice to develop these mental and physical skills.
Further, being overweight creates an
additional layer of difficulty for differently-abled children who already work
harder than their typically developing peers to accomplish activities of daily
living:
·
Bathing
and toileting become more difficult for the child as well as their caregiver.
·
Movement
becomes more difficult thus curtailing a child’s ability to participate in
playground activities, for example.
·
It
increases the potential for bullying for children who may be already be
experiencing it because of their different-ability.
·
In
the long term, being overweight makes children, adolescents, and adults more
susceptible to diabetes, asthma, cardiovascular disease, orthopedic problems,
sleep apnea, cancer, and osteoarthritis.
Flip2BFit® innovatively promotes
the development of gross motor skills and motor planning. “Spiderman Crawls”, for example, get the
heart pumping and the big muscle groups working! The “Praying Mantis” builds strength and
balance. “Windmills” stretch the arms’
large muscle groups. Simple instruction
and picture cards facilitate players’ success.
Success builds self confidence.
Flip2BFit® builds bridges
between differently-abled children and their typically developing siblings and
peers as they together develop coordination, strength and personal
relationships. More broadly, the family that plays together bonds
together!
Heather Parisi is the CEO/Founder of
Flip2BFit® and
Fitness for Africa. Her passion for children; recognition of the rapidly
rising childhood obesity rates in this country; and, acknowledgement of the
large numbers of starving children around the world inspired her to create Flip2BFit® and Bakari® . Her goal is to promote healthy lifestyles for
children and families by putting the FUN in fitness and nutrition!
