Table of Contents

• Parenting cartoon: “Preparation is important!”
• Fun skinship with parents and children! Let’s do exercises at home with Dad!

Parenting cartoon: “Preparation is important!”

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After working for a design company in Tokyo, he became a freelance illustrator. He is a hard-working father who produces animation, manga, and illustrations, including winning the Yubari International Fantastic Film Festival’s International Short Film Showcase Division Excellence in Animation Award.

Fun skinship with parents and children! Let’s do exercises at home with Dad!

Feel your child’s growth through gymnastics!

　We interviewed Sanpei Miyagawa, President of the Parent-Child Gymnastics Association, andHiromi Okubo, Director of the Association, about parent-child communication through gymnastics, which provides daily support activities to promote parent-child contact and mental and physical health.

Gymnastics is a communication tool for parents and children

　Parent-child gymnastics is an exercise in which parents and children work together, and is a very important method of communication as an opportunity for parents and children to interact with each other.
Performing these exercises also leads to a healthy daily life, such as relieving stress and lack of exercise for parents and children.

　The Oyako Gymnastics Association describes touching the baby around the time of the one-month post-birth checkup as gymnastics, and thereafter encourages the practice of parent-child gymnastics as the child grows.

　Some parents find it difficult to interact with their newborn children, but it is a good idea to start by touching their child’s feet and interacting with them.
As you continue to do parent-child exercises, you can feel your child’s growth and enjoy the excitement of “how can they do this already?” as you interact effectively with them.

Let’s do exercises as your child grows.

　Children grow through play and physical activity.
Children around the age of 0~1,2 years old engage in sensory-motor play (play that involves the five senses, such as seeing and touching things).
Parents should be aware of their children’s safety and respect their sensitivities, while supporting and interacting with them in a way that is not overbearing.

　Next comes functional play (play that uses the motor functions of the arms, legs, and whole body, such as drumming), followed by symbolic play (pretend play) at around 4~5 years of age. When doing parent-child gymnastics with children this age, try to be aware of how to move the body in a way that mimics playing airplanes and other activities.

　In addition, when conducting parent-child gymnastics, parents should not only decide on the content of the exercises, but also let the children themselves think about what kind of exercises they want to do, what they need to do those exercises, where they should do them, etc. This will improve the children’s motivation for the exercises.

　Some parents may wonder how to nurture their children’s physical fitness and athletic ability.
The Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology recommends
Guidelines for Early Childhood Exercise
states that “it is important to provide a variety of exercise stimuli in early childhood to build up a complex network of various neural circuits in the body.

　Therefore, when doing parent-child gymnastics, it is important to include the basic movements of “balancing the body,” “moving the body,” and “manipulating equipment,” so that children can easily learn a variety of movements, such as those to protect themselves in an emergency or those that can be used in sports in the future. This will help children acquire a variety of movements, such as movements to protect themselves in an emergency or movements that will lead to sports in the future.
If you are not sure where to start with parent-child exercises, try having your child do one of the following movements at a time.

Body balancing movements

Stand up, get up, turn, cross, cross, hang, stand on your head, ride, float

Body shifting movements

Walking, running, bouncing, sliding, jumping, climbing, hauling, swimming

Movement to manipulate tools, etc.

Hold, support, carry, push, push, pedal, grasp, hit, catch, pass, pile, hold, throw, strike, kick, pull, knock down

To get started without strain and safely

　Even moms and dads who are not good at exercise can feel comfortable with their children.
For example, just lying on your back or face down together and aligning the view that you can see will make the child happy.

　In order to develop an understanding of the child, it is necessary to face the child from the same perspective as the child. Please start with what you can do within a reasonable range. Also, take extra care for your child’s safety by having the exercise at home on a mat or futon.

Practice! Let’s try parent-child exercises at home!

Mr. Yasunori Sawada, President of Sawada Sports Club Ltd. and his daughter introduced parent-child exercises that can be done at home.

Before you start exercising

　The exercises we will be discussing are for children from about 2 years old to early elementary school age.
Vary the intensity and incorporate it according to the child’s physical ability.
Be careful not to move the child too much or too loudly, as this may cause injury to the child’s joints or other parts of the body during the growth stage.

　Also, since children have heavy heads, please ensure their safety by holding their heads down or doing it in a soft place so that they do not hit the floor head-first when they are about to fall backwards.
It will be a hot season from now on. Hydrate frequently, even when doing so in cooler areas.

Let’s start with preparatory exercises together!

　Before starting parent-child gymnastics, let’s do some preparatory exercises first.
It is more efficient to include room cleanup first as part of the preparatory exercise.
We start with a playful approach in the form of, “We’re going to do gymnastics and then we’re going to have a toy cleanup race.”

　Once you are done cleaning up, do some stretching as an element of preparation.
Rather than a full-scale stretching exercise, it is more like preparatory exercises for a physical education class.
To make the exercises enjoyable, please be aware of the rhythm of the exercises, such as by shouting “se-no” and using mimetic words such as “sway” and “gorogoro”.

　Since people get bored if they do the preparatory exercises in the same order each time, it is a good idea to use a game format, such as changing the content of the stretches according to the number of dice rolls.

Let’s deepen parent-child skinship through gymnastics!

　Here are some exercises that do not require much space at home and can be enjoyed only with the body.
Dads should also be motivated to get exercise.

　At first, the child is somewhat confused, but gradually gets used to it. As the father enjoys doing it, the child will also enjoy it.
It is also advisable to devise the intensity of exercise based on the age of the child.

Fat Hermit Crab Play

　The dad covers the child as if he were a house of hermit crab. The child wins if it can escape from the front or the side, fighting off the father’s resistance! The intensity of the game can be changed according to the dad’s strength.

Fat Gooper Jump

　Papa opens and closes the legs in a rhythmic manner.
A sense of rhythm is important because children need to jump so that their feet do not collide.

playing the fat yacht game

　Dad may have done it before, though it’s a type of core training,
Let’s pose like a sailboat so that it is easy for the child to understand. It is best to do so while telling the child, “Let’s pose like a sailboat.

Fat Log Falling

　Place the child on his or her back and stand both legs vertically.
The father tucks the child’s legs in various directions, and the child steps on them so that the legs do not touch the floor.
When the dad is on his back, the child uses his whole body to apply force to bring the dad’s legs down.
It is also a great way to train Dad’s abdominal muscles.

Fat Tunnel Passing

　Tunneling is a high intensity exercise.
Dads, too, have to lose their bellies in order to build tunnels that their children can go through, or for their children to go through the tunnels they have built (laughs).
Also, while dad builds the tunnel, he can dare to collapse the tunnel for skin-to-skin interaction.

fat airplane

　Lift the parent’s leg against the child’s belly.
This is one of the most favorite exercises for children. It is best to do it while making them imagine that they are flying in the sky as a hero.
It would be cool to be able to fly straight and clean, slowly at first holding hands and gradually extending them out to the sides.
*This should be done with a mat or futon underneath, taking care that the child does not fall out.

Fat String Mean Stands

　You can play with just one string.
Develop a sense of balance by having them walk on a string on the floor so they don’t fall off, or by having them walk on their hands and legs like a cat.

Fat Newspaper Running and Newspaper Throwing

　If you have a little more space, you can run with a newspaper stuck to your stomach or roll it up to use it as a ball.
There is no need to buy anything special, and you can perform the exercises by making full use of everyday items that you might use in your daily life.

Understand your child’s strengths.

　The Corona disaster has made it more difficult for children to play while interacting with each other.
This would reduce the opportunity for them to experience the weight and force of a person, which could lead to unexpected injuries to their friends.

　Therefore, through these parent-child exercises, try to capture the development of the child’s strength and help him or her understand the standard of strength that can cause damage to objects or people.

Parent-child exercises not only relieve lack of exercise, but also have a positive effect on the parent-child relationship.
Please enjoy and practice this as a way to spend your home time.