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Paddleboarding is a great way to stay active and have fun with your kids. Plus, it’s a low-impact full-body exercise that kids can do at an early age!
Fortunately, the watersport has come a long way, and finding suitable paddleboards and paddles for kids is relatively easy.
What is the minimum age for stand-up paddleboarding?
In general, a child should manage to handle their SUP at eight years old. However, SUPing is versatile, so the minimum age requirement is not absolute!
If your child is too young to handle their SUP, you can introduce them to the basic concepts of paddleboarding by bringing them with you on your board.
A summary about the health benefits of SUPing for kids
The health benefits of SUPing for kids include both physical and psychological aspects. After all, it’s a full-body workout that immerses the paddler in nature!
Paddling is an efficient exercise for kids as you can tone it up or down. Meaning your child won’t burn out quickly when they are on smaller, lighter SUP with proper paddling gear.
Moreover, enjoying the outdoors and having fun with the family is excellent for your child’s psychological development.
Not convinced yet? read on below for more detail
What are the 5 main health benefits of Stand Up Paddle Boarding for kids?
#1 Fun through play with family and friends
Paddleboarding is an excellent way for kids to bond and have fun with families and friends.
While out SUPing, a child can,
- Enjoy the outdoors and strike up conversations with family members or friends.
- Engage and compete with the other SUPers for better bonding.
- Develop social skills while having fun.
- Acquire a better understanding of the family dynamics.
In essence, the child will have fun, converse more, bond better, develop social skills, and form lasting happy memories that will last a lifetime.
#2 The benefits of exercise through Stan-Up Paddleboarding on stress
It’s easy for children to get stressed out! Fortunately, paddleboarding counts as an exercise that significantly reduces stress. For instance,
- SUPing is a full-body exercise that involves the muscles and the mind of your child.
- Keeping balance and paddling takes focus. This focus reduces the amount of time the child can focus on other worrying thoughts.
- Paddling the SUP release endorphins. These works as a stress relief for the brain.
- When kids use up energy, they sleep better, resulting in less anxiety.
At a glance, your child will experience a full-body exercise that involves the mind, worry less, have endorphins to boost happiness and suffer less anxiety.
Top tip: Make sure you have planned suitable rest time between stand-up paddleboarding and other activities.
#3 The mental health benefits of SUPing for kids
Paddleboarding helps children immerse themselves in nature. The tranquility and peace they can experience while SUPing is hard to find anywhere else. For instance,
- The child receives an awareness of the vast wilderness, which eases the mind.
- This awareness leads them to realize the calming effects of the water, trees, and birds.
- Once a child immerses themself in such serenity, they quickly let go of anxiety and depression.
So, SUPing will help a child immerse in nature, enjoy the calming effects it offers, and, as a result, reduce their anxiety.
#4 Kids will get fresh air on a SUP
SUPing enables kids to enjoy the fresh air, which offers excellent benefits.
- While SUPing, the fresh air cleans the child’s lungs. It gets rid of the car fumes and dust.
- With each breath, the clean oxygen helps your child’s brain gain better clarity.
- Every hour of paddling and breathing fresh air reinforces the child’s eyesight.
- Fresh air and sunshine are excellent in battling vitamin D deficiency.
In a nutshell, kids will have cleaner lungs, better cognitive abilities, better eyesight, and vitamin D reserve through SUPing and breathing fresh air.
#5 SUPing is good for the overall heart health of your child
Usually, kids have a short attention span. As such, SUPing is an efficient alternative to indoor cardio. We may view the process as,
- Initial paddling gets the heart rate up.
- The faster beating heart pumps better and thus oxygenates the body.
- This high amount of oxygen revs up the metabolic system.
- And an effective metabolism improves the muscle group, heart health.
To cut a long story short, kids will have a better heart rate, oxygen count, metabolism, muscle group, and heart health.
A few SUPing tips & tricks for kids
Safety is paramount when you take your children out on the water.
Ensure that your child is wearing a Coast Guard-approved life vest. If you are in charge of a younger SUPer, you should secure the safety buckles in the back, out of the child’s reach.
Get a coiled leash with decent strength and a padded comfortable ankle cuff. Secure the leash to the board and the child before getting into the water.
It’s a good idea to give a whistle and bright-colored vests to the kids. These will help you spot the child quickly in case of an emergency.
Before you head out, try to find an experienced guide or local paddleboarder. This way, you can efficiently find the best locations for SUPing with kids.
Top Tip: A hungry kid is a cranky kid, so load drinking water and food in your kid’s board.
Paddling can cause dehydration pretty quickly, so you want your kid to have the supplies at hand.
Young muscles tire easily, so make sure your activity has rests planned into it.
Summing up
stan-Up Paddleboarding is an excellent way for kids to enjoy the outdoors with family and friends. It’s also an effective method to bond with your child.
Plus, it’s super fun! and it should come as no surprise that the health benefits mentioned above will apply to you, too, if you choose to partake in the activity.
Paddleboarding will allow you and the kids to experience a healthy lifestyle while also having the opportunity to get away from the stresses of modern-day life.
Although kids may find paddleboarding challenging at first, once they get the hang of it, you’ll have a hard time separating them from their boards.