Active Brains Need Active Games
Published by The Mulberry House School on Tuesday 3rd of January 2023
“Where did February go?” I hear you say, “It seems we have blinked and missed it!”
Some might say that saying goodbye to February is a good thing but whether you are looking forward to the joys of Spring and fingers crossed some light at the end of this ‘National Lockdown’ tunnel, we at The Mulberry House School realise just how important it is that we continue to look after our Mental and Physical Wellbeing, by dedicating quality time to ourselves and our families.
February was such an important month in the calendar with Children’s Mental Health week having taken place at the beginning of the month which focused the attention, quite rightly, on the wellbeing of our children. However, we as parents need to realise that without our own Mental and Physical wellbeing how can we honestly expect to focus and dedicate our valuable time ensuring the wellbeing of the whole of our family.
If you did miss this, The Duchess of Cambridge sent a message of support encouraging young people and parents to find ways to share their thoughts and feelings, particularly during such a challenging time. If you missed it, click on this link to hear what she had to say.
It seems that we are constantly reminded of what we need to do for our children, but what do we actually need to do for ourselves? I like to think of a team analogy here, if one team member is not playing the game as well as the others or indeed needs a bit of encouragement then we need to know where to get help from. There are some excellent resources available from the BBC which will help us to think positive and stay positive.
From BBC’s ‘HEADROOM’ check this resource out; Some soothing sounds to help you and your family relax and unwind……..from listening to the calming sounds of waves or just some music for those cold February evenings to make you feel nice and cosy…..doesn’t that just sound perfect!
If you are anything like me, the time I get to watch TV every evening is limited, so I want to make sure that I watch quality, educational and interesting programmes from real life people who have experienced what I may be going through. There are some documentaries shining a light on Mental Health from Rio Ferdinand, Nadiya, Jesy Nelson and Alastair Campbell that are well worth the watch.
Right are you ready? Getting active and more importantly staying active… is my passion, but I know that I may well be in the minority here!
Something that made me smile yesterday was when I bumped into a parent of one of our former pupils and the first thing she said to me was that “How can we ever forget Coach Marc’s PE lessons, star jumps and how much the children enjoyed them”. Now this obviously was a lovely thing to hear (I’m sure not all the children I teach have the same opinion of my PE lessons!), but this view on physical activity is key. Whatever is your thing, you need to dedicate time to do it and above all enjoy doing it, otherwise you will do it once, maybe twice but probably not again.
Honestly taking little steps will make all the difference. Weight loss, for example, is important but don’t make it your sole aim for doing regular exercise. Believe me when I tell you this, exercising regularly is the KEY to feeling amazing inside and out. It makes you feel energised, you will study/work more efficiently, you will look and feel fantastic and ultimately feel so much happier. Win / Win.
If HIGH-Intensity training (HIIT) workouts aren’t for you, try some alternatives that you can do at your own pace. Aim to do one or more of these for about 30-60 minutes at a moderate intensity, remember one workout a day is enough and double remember rest days are just as important to let your body recover, so aim to do 4-5 sessions per week. Here are some alternative to try…
Walking, Jogging, Swimming, Cycling, Stair Climber or Cross Trainer.
There is so much information available to us online, what exercises we should be doing, unlimited workouts, fitness plans, healthy eating etc. Perhaps this is one of the problems we face. I sometimes feel that I should be doing everything, or I will achieve nothing, which of course is totally impossible and can be counter-productive to meet our goals of staying active whilst juggling our work and family commitments.
I ask you all a simple question, “As a school community what more could we do to help us get active and stay active?” This is a question that I would love some feedback to, any suggestions, any super APPS or secret information that you could share around to help us all. Please email us at info@mulberryhouseschool.com.
One final thought that I wanted to leave you with:
We all thought that February was just a month to get through, cold, grey and let’s face it boring (except for my birthday that is, but I stopped counting long ago!), 28 days of nothingness… but the truth is, I have used February as the kick start to my exercise goals and after reading this I hope to inspire you to do the same. Remember this, as a team, together we can inspire each other.
Coach Marc
