We can say anything, but they’re learning from actions that are repeatedly tolerated or accepted.
“We teach kids to ignore physical preparation & to prioritize high volumes of specificity.
And our adult population has health & wellness literacy and is riddled with preventable disease.
And guess what the missing link to all of it is?
The concept of balance.”
-Ray Zingler on X
Most live in their lives in America with an all or none, black & white mindset.
We are also a reactionary culture who waits until things break or don’t work out, get mad, and then complain about having to react to our lack of being proactive.
This is learned behavior via our “leaders” because no government makes money on responsible citizens being proactive.
If you don’t believe me take a look at our consumer debt and health crises. “You’re approved!” and “Take this pill!” sound like great ideas until you learn the true costs associated on the back end of these “solutions”.
The sad part about all of this is we are teaching our kids this all or none principle from an early age.
And the most sadistic part of it all is that we are using what should be an extraordinarily constructive, fun, healthy outlet as our means to do so, their youth sports.
“Oh come on Ray, no we’re not teaching that!”
I get that nobody is saying it audibly, but are we teaching against it? Or is what we are accepting through what we tolerate in their sports teaching them otherwise?
It just looks like year-round youth sport to a 10-year-old, but the brain is making decisions about their identity.
Now compound that with a side of toxicity for the next 8+ years because “that’s just the way things are these days” and what do you think happens?
If we didn’t have kids plagued with mental and physical turmoil because of “the way things are” I’d shut up.
If we could just hang the jersey up at 18 and they could go about their lives understanding balance, making healthy choices, and partaking in exercise programs I wouldn’t be writing about it.
But when our adult population is riddled with preventable disease and no concept of physical literacy, when the simple (broad) solution is balance and we aren’t teaching our kids about it, I’m going to say something. I’ll always say something.
When the accountability stimulus (sport) is gone and they are left to their own vices, what choices are they going to make?
The ones they learned.
If their elders haven’t figured it out, how can we expect they do?
