By Kristie Schiefer
Assistant News Editor
What ever happened to swinging around on the monkey bars? It’s a great source of fitness requiring upper and lower body strength if you decided to hang upside down by your knees.
But that’s all changed. Children can now swing around a pole for pure fitness, strength, and fun.
Kristy Craig, of Duncan’s Twisted Grip Dance and Fitness Studio on Vancouver Island, founded a pole dancing class called “Little Spinners,” offered for children ages five to 12. As of last week, three girls and one boy signed up for the class, according to a Sept. 12 article from Shape magazine. Craig promotes the class as a great form of a cardiovascular and upper body workout. However, the class is wrong for taking away the innocent days of childhood play and saying it is okay to be sexual.
It is important to put young children in an activity where they are not only getting a great workout but making friends and socializing. These children are not body builders; they do not need a muscle-strengthening program. These children need cardio exercise. Running around the soccer field or doing handsprings or ballet would provide them the physical benefits children need.
The Center for Disease Control and Prevention suggests aerobic activity should make up most of a child’s 60 minutes of physical activity each day. This includes running or brisk-walking. Push-ups or gymnastics are the suggested muscle strengthening activities and running is also crucial for bone strengthening.
What is even more absurd is how the parents of children taking Craig’s pole dancing classes requested the class for their children.
“My daughter plays on my pole at home all the time, I’d love her to actually learn how to do things properly and not hurt herself,” Craig said in a Sept. 6 National Post article.
It’s a bad influence at a young age. A mother should be a good role model putting the child in a positive activity or something she did as a child. Take the pole down and give the child some pom-poms. That’s a better solution.
Most children who start sports at a young age will continue playing into their teenage years and maybe even beyond. A child who starts pole dancing at a young age is only receiving encouragement to follow the wrong path in terms of advancement with this so-called sport.
“It’s going to be about learning correct posture, and things like handstands and elbow stands,” Craig said in a Sept. 11 Winnipeg Sun article. “They’ll be learning proper gripping of poles as an apparatus.”
The child will have superior strength above other children, but he or she would never be able show off his/her ability. It would not be right for a teacher to condone this behavior once the child is swinging around on a pole on the playground during recess. The other children will observe in horror or want to mimic the risky behavior. It is a vicious circle when the parents of those observant children describe to their parents what happened at school. The class is telling children it is okay to swing around a pole if it is available.
This class is taking away the youthful innocence of a child. Children should be outside playing with other children and learning team-building skills. Children should not be signed up for an activity with such negative connotations.
