The search for meaningful activities to enhance the lives of our children is nothing short of exhausting. Between the traditions and trends, it seems there is always a new alternative to investigate. With busy lives running at full tilt, parents and kids alike need a choice that honors the whole child; body, mind and spirit. Try taking a breather from the ordinary and consider what makes break dancing such an exceptional choice for your child’s next long term activity.
Don’t Just Sit There
Kids have a primal instinct to make sense of their world and this drive causes them to burst forward touching, jumping, running and spinning their way through childhood. Harnessing these natural movements and spontaneous delights are just some of the many benefits of breaking for kids. Breakdance requires physical strength and stamina while working the entire body through both organized and creative actions. A breaking class provides children the opportunity to spend their energy bucks in a dynamic, compelling environment that strengthens their bodies and enhances their ability to plan for systematic, sustainable, and safe movement.
Inspiring Confidence
Our kids are inundated with social messages throughout their day about who they should be, how they should look and what they should become. Breaking encourages a developing sense of self through the individual and team options it affords. Breakdancing honors the individual child, promoting self-expression and creativity as there is no single combo or choreo that is held as the one and only “right way” to execute moves. Kids can learn the basics and launch in any direction from there, developing their self-expression and confidence along the way.
Breaking also provides a format for teamwork and collaboration on the dance battlefield. Kids soon learn their individual prowess contributes to a team showing when they enter battles. This venue provides youngsters an outlet for healthy rivalry while harnessing mind and body energy as children develop into synergetic team competitors.
Be Well
Nothing is more important for youth than developing a strong sense of emotional well-being. An empowered sense of self includes celebrating diversity. In breaking, this is truly the rule and not the exception. Breakdance allows for risk-taking, mistake-making and a developing appreciation of others. Children who break, grow a greater sense of trust in themselves and a demonstrated acceptance of one another as they learn about inclusion, a value explicitly embedded into breaking culture.
It’s time to end the search for the perfect activity for your child. Breakdancing for kids just makes sense and there is always room in the school yard for your children to experience this amazing, progressive, and dynamic option.
By Polli Ring