resources : Movement Malnutrition: What Are We Doing to Our Kids? -Ivanooo

Let’s get one thing straight.

Childhood was never meant to be choreographed.

Not in perfect school benches, not with back-to-back classes, not with gym memberships, and definitely not with screen-time as reward. Our kids are growing up in a “neat” world—clean floors, tight schedules, locked doors, and minds that are becoming just as boxed-in as the rooms they live in.

But children aren’t made for boxes.
They’re made for chaos. For movement. For mess.

The Slow Disappearance of Natural Movement

Do you remember what it felt like to climb trees until your hands burned?

To roll in the mud? Crawl under furniture? Hang from branches like a monkey?

Our bodies—especially children’s—are wired to move like this. Not just to stay “fit.” But because their brains, joints, balance, attention, emotions, all of it is built through movement. Through natural movement. Not reps and sets. Not screens and taps.

But here’s what’s happening today:

Children raised in gym-only or tech-heavy worlds are starting to lose something precious:

✅ Their natural motor literacy — that instinctive body wisdom
✅ Their joint and tissue strength — the stuff that keeps them springy, balanced, agile
✅ Their neurological variability — the brain wiring that lets them focus, adapt, stay calm

And without these?
We get what I believe will soon be a recognized term: Movement Malnutrition.

Movement Malnutrition Is Real. Just Not Diagnosed Yet.

When you take away crawling, hanging, climbing, balancing, rolling…
You don’t just get bored kids.

You get kids who are:

Constantly restless
Tripping over themselves
Low on confidence
Quick to anger
Struggling with attention and emotional control

We call it ADHD, anxiety, sensory issues.
But maybe what they need isn’t another diagnosis.

Maybe they need a place to hang upside down.

This Isn’t a Gym Problem. This Is a Life Problem.

Gyms are fine. Sports are fine.
But natural movement isn’t structured. It’s embedded.

It happens in between things.
Not in scheduled sessions.

Our ancestors didn’t “work out.”
They lived physically—they squatted, carried, climbed, chased, crawled, built fires, fetched water.
Our kids sit, tap, click, and maybe—if lucky—run on a treadmill.

The body isn’t just sitting there like a machine waiting to be turned on.
It’s a living system. If unused the right way, it doesn’t just weaken.
It forgets.

So What Can We Do?

We start where we are.

Not by booking another activity, but by designing a life that moves:

Let kids sit on the floor, not the couch.
Let them carry things. Drag things. Jump on furniture.
Hang a rope from the ceiling.
Turn your living room into a jungle gym if you must.
Say yes to mess, dirt, risk, and even minor injuries.
Let them walk barefoot. Spin in circles. Race up the stairs.
Chase them. Wrestle them. Crawl beside them.

Movement isn’t an extracurricular.
It’s how the brain learns to be in the world.

Let’s Raise Wild Bodies. So We Don’t Get Fragile Minds.

This isn’t about being anti-school, anti-tech, or anti-gym.

It’s about remembering what the body is.
And what it becomes if we ignore its design.

Don’t wait for science to catch up.
Don’t wait for a white paper to tell you what your gut already knows.

Kids are built to move.
Let them.

Your home doesn’t need more rules.