Health Benefits of Enrolling Your Child in Ballet
If you’ve ever considered signing your child up for ballet classes, you probably already know that there are tons of benefits of taking ballet for kids. It’s an excellent way for kids to make friends, express themselves, and have fun!
However, while you may already know that ballet is a great way to get exercise, you may not be aware of ballet’s more specific health benefits for kids.
On Pointe: The Health Benefits of Enrolling Your Child in Ballet
Here, we’ll break down the ways that ballet can specifically benefit your child’s health, so you know exactly what they’re getting out of every class.
Sensorimotor Skills
Sensorimotor skills are usually developed relatively early on in life, but young children that start ballet in early childhood have a heightened advantage over other children.
This means that they respond to external stimuli and keep their balance more strongly ingrained from a younger age.
Strength
It may not automatically seem like it, but ballet dancers are incredibly strong. Ballet is essentially a varied form of pilates, so while you may be only creating small motions, the repetitive nature of ballet dancing builds muscle over time.
Especially as children continue to advance in their ballet skills, they will become very strong.
Flexibility
Perhaps one of the most specialized health benefits of ballet and other dance forms is the added benefit of flexibility. Girls dance leotards are specifically designed to allow for as much flexibility as possible for this reason.
Most children that start dance are not naturally super flexible – this is a skill that must be built up over time. Ballet is excellent for this as it involved both static and dynamic stretching.
Posture
Most people do not sit or stand with excellent posture. While maybe we can get away with this in our everyday lives, ballet dancers are trained from very early on to stand with perfect posture.
This practice of postural alignment can help prevent back and spinal problems later in life.
Endurance
Similar to strength benefits, you may not automatically assume this, but ballet requires enormous amounts of endurance and stamina. Dancing can involve moving for very long periods, which also burns many calories.
However, ballet dancers also have the added challenge of masking the effort they have to put in to stay composed and make their motions seem effortless.
Stress Relief
It may not seem obvious at first, but dance can be a huge source of stress relief in children. Having fun and moving your body is a great way to forget about outside stress, even for kids.
Stress relief can also significantly impact physical and mental health, even helping kids deal with anxiety.
Health Benefits of Ballet for Your Child
Hopefully, now you understand some of the underlying health benefits of ballet for kids. Ballet can be a fun and expressive outlet for young kids, but it can also have significant positive impacts on their health right now and years into the future.
Contact us at The Mom Kind to help with your parenting needs, especially as related to Autism and Special Needs.