Young Age Doesn’t Equate Immaturity

A popular belief among many parents is that children are too immature to safely engage in weightlifting, that they should wait until they’re older and responsible enough. Parents often dismiss the idea of their kids lifting weights immediately, picturing their children as the individuals who can’t maintain a teeth brushing regimen, use any cooking appliances or have any self control. While decision making is an essential skill that typically develops as you grow up, it’s unfair to assume all children will lack the capacity to tackle lifting weights in a safe manner. This perspective often overlooks two critical factors, the role of proper guidance that the parents provide and the overwhelming potential benefits of weightlifting has, under supervision. A child’s age doesn’t inherently determine their ability to engage weightlifting in a smart, safe and respectful manner. Instead, it is the guidance and support provided by the parents – who are responsible for nurturing and fostering their growth – that will determine the child’s success in approaching weightlifting responsibly.

The central argument against children lifting weights hinges on the belief that children are too immature to make responsible decisions. Many activities are legally restricted based on age, such as getting a tattoo, enlisting in the military, consuming alcohol—because these are all considered too risky for individuals who lack the maturity fully to understand the consequences. Many would say it’s fair that this logic and concern should extend to weightlifting, especially those who are especially young, that they don’t possess the full comprehension of the potential danger of improper form, overloading weights muscle strains – the most common cause of injury for young lifters. According to The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), muscle strains account for “40 to 70%” of all strength-related training injuries, which indicate the cause as a level of overexertion, therefor a lack of self control. While the physical risks associated with weightlifting are entirely valid, their existence highlights a deeper, underlying issue: the psychological factors that influences the child’s decision-making. These factors are just as important when assessing and discussing the likelihood of injury.

A lack of prefrontal cortex development is something all children possess, which alters the risk of injury when they engage in weightlifting. Children will typically lack emotional maturity and the cognitive awareness to understand the risk association with weightlifting, purely due to their lack of brain development, compared to an adult. For instance, it isn’t far fetched to say that in instances where children are placed into a competitive environment, their ability to manage their own emotions and assess their own pain falter in the moment. Where they’ll then create an emotional association between the desire to push oneself past their limits with competition. This becomes extremely prevalent in training scenarios where they fail to recognize their technique unraveling and general fatigue. Combine this factor with their less likeliness to experience fear or caution that adults or even teens typically have when approaching weightlifting, new exercises (or any experience), which will ultimately increase the risk of injury.

While the immaturity argument may sound appealing on surface level, it fails to recognize that children are perfectly capable of learning safe practices. Saying that children may be too immature to handle weightlifting is based on the assumption that their lack of maturity equates to an inability to make sound and reasonable decisions. What’s overlooked is that maturity is not a single trait but a spectrum. While there are laws for an age-requirement to be put in place for activities like drinking alcohol, or making life altering decisions, it doesn’t mean weightlifting inherently carries the same risk. Making an equivalence between age restricted activities and a recreational activity holds no merit or basis. Numerous studies on child development show that children can exhibit discipline and responsibility when taught under correct supervision. That discipline and responsibility is of course influenced by tangible factors, not relating to age, but the guidance, structure and expectations of the adults who are teaching them.

Research on child development consistently shows that children from the ages of 7 to 11 are fully aware of understanding complex concepts, like how their egos affects how others perceive them, how others think and feel, and most importantly have logical thoughts that result in concrete results. The cognitive ability that is required to understand the importance of proper safety precautions, technique and reasonable effort are all within capacity for any child. When taught with proper technique and gradual introduction to the activity, children are just as capable as adults in maintaining proper discipline. While The American Academy of Pediatrics may have reported muscle strains as 40 to 70% of all strength-related injuries, it goes far into its writing to further clarify that most of these injuries occur at home, with unsupervised settings. When there’s no supervision present, that clearly represents the little amount of effort in teaching the children proper form, technique, safety precautions or to not overexert themselves. Any argument that explains that children’s brains are too undeveloped to make responsible decisions is thrown out the window when the role of proper parents and coaching are present.

Children are sponges. Anything that is presented in front of them will be absorbed to some manner, no matter the topic. May it be how they learn language, puzzles, etc. “Monkey see, monkey do.” Being involved in a weightlifting program with clear outlines of potential risks, weight limits, regular rest periods will teach what their role is as a student. Their coach, parent, or whoever compiled this for them will help them understand their limits while pushing themselves to improve within these strict boundaries. Clear communication will foster the responsibility and maturity they need to participate in weightlifting, not the arbitrary age number they have.

References

By et al. (2024) Piaget’s stages: 4 stages of Cognitive Development & Theory, Simply Psychology. Available at: https://www.simplypsychology.org/piaget.html

Strength training by children and adolescents | pediatrics | American Academy of Pediatrics. Available at: https://publications.aap.org/pediatrics/article/121/4/835/70927/Strength-Training-by-Children-and-Adolescents?autologincheck=redirected