by Ian Loft

Created on: March 21, 2007   Last Updated: April 25, 2007

Childhood is an adventure of exploration and new experiences. Interests and hobbies may be the result of following a family tradition, or from trying out new experiences. Offering your children a variety of new experiences is an effective method of promoting interest in healthy activities, and will help reduce opportunities to find trouble that often results from boredom.

Good schools begin the process of developing interests by offering a wide variety of activities during school hours that extend to after class times as a means to build on basic skills covered during short blocks of class time. Gymnastics as an example is a common element of many school physical training programs through which children can exploit these basics through a more comprehensive class out of school hours. This potentially leads to interschool competitions and beyond thus a new interest is fostered. Most school sports promote similar programs where additional and more advanced skills develop as a result of the extracurricular system.

Some of the more devoted teachers and educators offer adventurous activities that require a significant investment in time and training. Abseiling, rock climbing, canoeing, white-water rafting and orienteering style adventurous activities build on teamwork, self confidence as well as teaching important survival skills in a way that provide some thrills with a little adrenaline. Exposure to these activities is sometimes a precursor to developing a serious interest in outdoors adventure as adults. The added benefit of healthy pursuits like this will leave very little time for children to be sitting around watching television or spending hours in front of computer games.

Music is another extracurricular activity that is not only a highly rewarding pursuit, but can lead to a lifetime of interest. With the right kind of encouragement and environment, some children rapidly acquire skills with more than one instrument. The variety of disciplines and musical styles serve to provide challenges of a lifetime.

As parents of young children, you only have one chance to promote healthy habits and pursuits. Once your children reach an age where puberty and independence become an issue, your chances of changing anything unhealthy are limited, if not lost completely. A varied and interesting program of activities will help to promote a healthy lifestyle as well as interest in adventure and challenge. This can be achieved with the help of extracurricular sports, hobbies, academic or adventurous pursuits. As parents, you also have the opportunity of a lifetime where you can play your part by joining your children on their journey of discovery, and where the end result is a happy and healthy family unit.

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