I read this ridiculous scare article about energy drinks, going on and on about how dangerous it is for kids to be drinking things like Red Bull due to the caffeine content. The text is hilarious — I mean, “buzz in a bottle that supercharges the MySpace.com crowd?” Bahahahahaha. Of course, in the middle of all this foolishness is a chart admitting that RedBull has less than half the caffeine of a cup of coffee… Good going Readers Digest… You almost had me.
I also sketched out a new painting… another quick/fun piece, this time based on an 1836 newspaper editorial illustration titled “A Galvanized Corpse“. It’s a bit silly, but I’m working to get my speed up so I can take on this children’s book illustration project. I’d considered other, faster mediums, or even digital, but I think I will try to stick to treated acrylics.
Other than that, we had trapeze class again today, and Nefarious shone as always… I suspect that all parents think this to some extent, but I really believe that she’ll be able to do anything she wants with her life. She’s got the raw natural talent and gifts to be able to do it, and I work really hard to make sure she has the foundation and support to explore all of her interests.
4 Comments
beautiful :)
Love it ( the painting)!
Is this going on a T-shirt?
hope so!
Cirque Du Soleil gymnastics. Just received your Opening Up book in hard cover and I love it. Took less than 2 weeks to get it.
thought you might like this. we talked about letting kids do slightly dangerous things before. here is 1 more reason to get them going young.
The Truth About Balance Training
Q: The American College of Sports Medicine sent out a press release predicting the biggest fitness trends of 2009. One of them is stability-ball training, because this can “teach balance.” Can balance really be trained in adults?
A: In adults, balance can be regained, but not taught. If you don’t already have balance skills by age 12, you’re not going to improve dramatically as an adult. It’s a waste of time.
Now, if you’ve lost those skills over the years, then balance training can help you get back to where you once were. This might help prevent falling injuries in the elderly.
Before the age of 12, balance training is really good. Kids need to play on unstable surfaces. Imagine a kid at a park jumping from rock to rock. Each rock has a different shape, so the child has to balance on it. Walking on narrow surfaces like a high beam in gymnastics can also really train balance.
One expert from Canada goes as far as to say that balance must be trained before the age of four. Some will even argue that you should start with toddlers, tapping them gently on each side as they’re walking so they have to catch themselves.
That’s extreme, but when it comes to developing balance, the younger you do it, the better. Skiers have some of the best balance and spatial-awareness skills you’ll see, and most [of the elite skiers] got on the slopes at age two.
As a side note, swimmers are the opposite. They can barely walk and chew gum at the same time. They spend so much time in the water that their proprioception is poor. Ever see a bunch of swimmers playing soccer to warm up? They look like penguins having epileptic fits!
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