Why People Think Children Shouldn’t Lift

The preconceived notion that weightlifting is dangerous and stunts children’s growth is a long-standing misconception, one that persist when any form of media introduces the topic of children and weightlifting. With widespread fear among parents and guardians about the potential dangers or harm that it could impose on their children, many outright forbid their children to partake. Commonly believing that their “vulnerable” bones are far too susceptible to this danger! However, recent research shows that, under proper supervision and with age-appropriate weights, weightlifting will contribute positively to a child’s physical development and growth. We’ll take a deeper examination in what causes this misconception and how weightlifting would benefit them, rather than hurt.

Proper supervision and technique is something we preach to our children in every other sport, however this doesn’t really apply to weightlifting for some undefinable reason, we’ll just fear monger them before they get there. Studies performed by The American Academy of Pediatrics show that youth injuries in weightlifting are primarily caused by improper form, lack of supervision, and strength-inappropriate/skill-inappropriate use of weights for the child. When these factors are properly managed by a youth certified trainer (or anyone with a strong understanding of youth physiology,) children will not only avoid injuries but promote positive growth results. The NSCA has proper guidelines, that with a proper amount of supervision will result in positive strength, ligament, and coordination improvements. Take any sport that has a lack of proper supervision and you’ll see higher injury rates. But what is it about weightlifting (which has lower rates of injury) that will make it stick out compared to other youth sports?

Long before social media piled on this misconception, as it was already deeply rooted. It most certainly didn’t help with its pattern of turning any sport, or rather ANY activity, into a 60 second video for millions to see! How could this paint a picture that seems misrepresentative of the relationship between weightlifting and children? This quick-consumption content that influencers will put out, really puts an out-of-context oversimplified narrative about youth fitness about how it’s pushing yourself to the extreme, whether its that you’re neck is red as a tomato with a bulging vein or getting shredded to the bone, it’s clear that many are uneducated about the topic. These short videos will also emphasize injuries, purely from how the algorithm functions, in turn this study has proven that social media has placed a burden on kids standards of realistic bodies and goals. In turn this isn’t the only result of these short, high consumption videos, research has shown that exposure to this type of content, lowers attention span, lower motivation and overall self deprecation. All of these foester anenviornment where children develop unhealthy fitness standards and goals. Just piling on top of the confusion of lifting, fear increases and overexertion now being the main focal point of the viral content. But like I said it was deeply rooted, this isn’t the only cause for this misconception to occur.

Historical attitudes and our longstanding societal standards have already placed an image in our heads about childhood health and exertion. For many decades, traditional medical advice that was given out by genuine pediatrics and doctors emphasized caution against any physical strenuous activity for children. A study showcased how it was common for this misconception to exist only due to previous decades of notions that went by unnoticed. This stemmed from an outdated assumption from a very old study, that was once widely accepted is completely disproven now, that growth plates could be injured from weightlifting. The other factor being a cultural norm that was placed without much say. Even as we get further into modern scientific studies that disprove it, many still outright forbid it for their children. This “legacy” or rather myth, is still hindering newer – more scientifically backed information to replace this ingrained misconception, but for now we can only showcase more evidence to prove otherwise.

In addition to our standards that have been upheld for so long, we can take a look at an even older one. When discussing why weightlifting is seen as bad for children, most people would already only be considering 50% of children. Of course gender roles have played a large role in which gender participates in what youth sport. With weightlifting being seen as predominantly a male activity before, involving strength and muscularity, it’s almost been “automatically” ruled out in so many peoples heads. Girls are typically steered toward for traditionally “feminine” activities like dancing or gymnastics, when in truth that the many studies showing overall muscle strength, tone and bone density increase, applies to both genders. This bias will contribute to the misconception that weightlifting is unsuitable to 50% of all children, when this isn’t even the only result of gender roles.

Old standards will in turn always play a role in how our society operates, clearly. Social media and older studies that were disproven will turn their heads to how most of our unconscious decisions are made. These two examples of social media and disproved studies show deeply ingrained societal attitudes towards a certain subject can persist, despite the modern day science proving otherwise. As we continue to advance our health and physical development we should aim to educate parents first so we can cause a chain effect on what’s taught to our children in the future.

References

American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) blog (no date) ACSM_CMS. Available at: https://www.acsm.org/blog-detail/acsm-blog/2020/03/25/mythbusting-youth-resistance-training (Accessed: 10 November 2024).

American Psychological Association (APA) chief scientist outlines potential harms, benefits of social media for kids (no date a) American Psychological Association. Available at: https://www.apa.org/news/press/releases/2023/02/harms-benefits-social-media-kids (Accessed: 10 November 2024).

American Psychological Association (APA) chief scientist outlines potential harms, benefits of social media for kids (no date b) American Psychological Association. Available at: https://www.apa.org/news/press/releases/2023/02/harms-benefits-social-media-kids (Accessed: 10 November 2024).

Meur, Y.L. (2018) Youth resistance training, National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA). Available at: https://www.nsca.com/education/articles/infographics/youth-resistance-training/ (Accessed: 10 November 2024).

Myers, A.M., Beam, N.W. and Fakhoury, J.D. (2017) Resistance training for children and adolescents, Translational pediatrics. Available at: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5532191/ (Accessed: 10 November 2024).