In the scorching summer of July 2009, at a resort hotel in Shenzhen, I participated as a member of the coaching team in the "Sports to Promote Learning Summer Camp" hosted by He Zhaocan and Cai Huiming. This camp was specifically open to children aged 7-11, with a total of 39 children attending from all over the country. They spent seven days and seven nights together. Under the leadership of the head coach, the children played many games and participated in various activities. These activities were designed (1) to help children improve their basic learning skills; (2) to allow children to accumulate successful experiences and positively promote their learning efficiency and motivation. Among these, there were several main projects: In the "Core Muscle Training," the children first played games like twisting waist ropes and trunk pushes to warm up their core muscles, then combined this with the outdoor expansion facilities of the resort hotel, such as rope bridges, rope mountains, rope cages, climbing towers, zip-lining uphill, and shooting hoops for training. Additionally, there was "Outdoor Orienteering" to develop the children's sense of direction; "Sensory Exploration" to enhance sensory acuity; "Talent Show" for public expression; "Election of the Best Improvement Award of the Day" to give children the opportunity to appreciate themselves; "Sharing Evening" to exercise social skills and focus on personal experiences; finally, of course, including various developmental games and activities. During the "Core Muscle Training," amidst the laughter and joy of the children, one could often hear cheers of encouragement echoing around. After they returned to the classroom drenched in sweat after completing the games, the head coach led them again in playing the twisting waist rope and trunk push games. An unexpected change occurred—before participating in these games, the children were relatively scattered. However, after the activities, the entire team had changed. Every time the children heard the music signaling assembly, they immediately ran to the designated spot, sat down quietly, and waited for the coach's instructions. For this reason, I asked He Zhaocan. He explained that core muscle exercise is fundamental to any human activity (including learning). When core muscles are appropriately exercised, people feel in control of their movements, which helps develop confidence and security, allowing children to learn better and more easily follow and execute instructions. People who cannot control their own bodies well, such as those who often get lost, repeatedly bump into things, bruise easily, tire quickly, or lack fine hand-eye coordination, if they were primitive humans living in a wild filled with fierce beasts, would you say their survival rate is higher or lower, their mood more comfortable or more panicked? Modern people have the same psychology because primitives are our ancestors. It's originally like this! The parenting principle I've heard before, "There are no naughty children," includes this truth: they don't follow instructions because they don't receive them, don't understand them, or are afraid to act—not because they don't want to. I was particularly impressed by the "Core Muscle Training" activity. On the day the summer camp ended, I brought my wife and my four-year-old son to the resort hotel. I planned to spend some quality time with my son and also bring him to play outdoors, practicing what I had just learned. The next morning, it was drizzling. After much deliberation, I decided to set out when the rain paused. Before leaving, I did a "core activation" exercise with my son at the hotel. He really liked it—he didn't know what Dad was doing, thinking it was just a game. He was very engaged, twisting his little body and resisting my pushing and pulling motions repeatedly. After the core activation, I took him to the "Luding Bridge." According to my wife, when my son came here two days ago, she held his hand while crossing the "Luding Bridge." That day, I planned to let him cross alone. However, due to the rain, despite my repeated encouragement, he still insisted I hold his hand. I held his hand for one step, then let go and let him walk one step himself, then re-grabbed his hand. We managed to cross the bridge this way. Because of the rain, my son lost interest in other games and wanted to leave. I respected his wish and brought him back to the hotel, thinking this time there wouldn't be much effect. Nevertheless, I insisted on doing the core activation once more. My son was still interested in this "game," again twisting his small body against my push-pull, shouting excitedly—the previous dejection disappeared. I found his little torso was stronger than before we went out. Four days later, at night, while massaging my son before bed, he lay in bed and I grabbed his legs to draw an "8." I occasionally did this action before, and he liked it. That day, after I drew two "8"s, my son suddenly exclaimed excitedly, "Dad, you're using my feet like a pen to draw '8'!" I was startled but immediately understood. His perceptiveness had improved, so I happily praised him for being "awesome." After finishing, he gestured to do the "core activation" again, indicating he really enjoyed this "game." Of course, I complied and found that he could exert force solidly in every direction this time. It was precisely because of his request that I realized he could become aware of me drawing the "8" because his core muscles were activated, enhancing his self-awareness and thus boosting his learning ability. I never expected that activating core muscles could stabilize a child's basic learning skills and enhance their self-awareness. Actually, my own awareness has also subtly improved. Once again, I experienced the magic of kinesiology. Postscript: On August 22nd, half a month after helping my son with one session of core muscle training, we visited this resort hotel again, and my son surprised us again: about three months ago, he played basketball here, and not only couldn't score, but his closest attempt was more than a meter away from the hoop. But on August 22nd, my son made five out of seven shots. Clearly, my son's core muscles had started to "wake up," and his strength had significantly increased because he learned to use the power of his whole body instead of just his arms. The other day, my son woke me up early and led me to a pile of robots, then showed me how he transformed cars into robots and robots back into cars. Although I was still sleepy, I was awakened by this phenomenon. He has been playing with robots for over a year, and previously, my wife and I helped him "transform." I thought he wouldn't be able to do it independently until at least six years old, but unexpectedly, he can already do it now. I believe there will be more surprises waiting for us in the future.
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