Teen Health: Building a Culture of Fitness

Parenting is serious work and parents have a major role to play in shaping habits that their children can carry from infancy into the teen years. Black teens undergo several changes during adolescence, most of them complex and difficult to navigate.

While some of these changes are physical, they are not necessarily visible to their parents, guardians, or mentors. According to the US Department of Health & Human Services and the Office of Population Affairs, these teens internal changes are invisible.

Often, these Black teens face a unique set of barriers as they try to commit to a fitness routine. These obstacles range from socioeconomic factors to cultural perceptions.

As parents, we need to understand these limitations our teens face in order to help them navigate them and create an environment that promotes physical activity.

We hold the key to keeping our teens healthy throughout their formative years and even when they become adults. We can make a significant difference by deliberately engaging them in physical activities that help their physical and mental well-being.

Physical Fitness as It Affects Black Teens

According to the British Columbia Health Link, Black teenagers need at least 60 minutes of daily physical fitness activities. However, our community has not been able to achieve this. Black teens today prefer to spend more time playing video games, watching movies/TV shows, or being on social media.

The long-term consequence of this is that we will have our community with adults who are less healthy than their parents, since most of us weren’t distracted by video games, TV, and social media as they are today.

A CBS News report asserts that Black teens are 15% less fit than their parents were when they were teens. The Washington Post also collaborated with this is by stating that Black teens didn’t run as fast and far as their parents did when they were teens.

To avert this imminent catastrophe in our community, we must make physical fitness a culture.

Why Fitness Matters for Black Teens

While physical activities are vital for all ages, they are more critical for teenagers because of the changes their bodies are undergoing. Our teenagers can gain four things when they engage in fitness activities.

Physical Benefits

Physical activities help teens maintain a healthy weight, which means a reduction in the possibility of having diabetes, high blood pressure, and heart disease, which are diseases common among Black Americans.

In addition to this, physical activities also help develop your teen’s bones and muscles, which is essential in improving cardiovascular health.

Mental Improvement

Black teens are faced with different stress triggers, which range from racial discrimination and academic stress to societal pressure. Social media influence has also compounded this stress.

However, with physical activities, they can easily navigate through these daily stresses as these activities can act as a therapy to help relieve the stress, which typically leads to depression.

Confidence Boost

Most teens want to feel that they are to be recognized and perceived as significant. Participation in physical activities can give your teen all that and even more.

Teenagers need to feel confident when their bodies are undergoing changes that most of them often do not understand.

Socialization

In a time like this, when many teens from the black community have turned to social media for socialization, getting them involved in physical activities will not only improve their physical and mental health but also be an alternative to social media socialization.

It will help them form a network of other teenagers within and outside our community who support and model each other as they transition from teenage to adulthood.

Barriers Limiting Black Teens’ Participation in Fitness Activities and the Way Forward

Now, let’s talk about the factors hindering Black teens from getting involved in sports and the way forward.

Access to Resources

Many of our communities lack sporting centers and those that have them may not have the necessary equipment. Some centers are unsafe for teens, mainly due to gang and drug activities within and around the sporting facilities. These problems have discouraged parents and teens from participating in fitness activities.

Well-to-do and influential Black community members and fitness enthusiasts can collaborate to bring well-equipped fitness centers to Black communities and make existing ones safe for teens.

Cultural Perceptions

Cultural perceptions are a big issue. There are Black communities that see being overweight as a sign of beauty. Women deliberately gain weight to have bigger boobs and a more rounded backside.

A report by Michigan University shows that black female teens avoid fitness activities because they believe sweating will mess up their beautiful braids.

A severe campaign addressing these cultural perceptions is a necessity in such communities.

Parental Involvement

Here are four ways parents can help with their teen’s fitness:

Parents should set a good example by prioritizing fitness to encourage their teens to adopt same habits

Our support and encouragement as parents can help motivate these youngsters to participate in fitness activities

Sports and fitness activities are a great time to bond. Hence, parents should create time to engage in these activities with their teens

By providing access to sporting facilities, equipment, and transportation, parents can ease their teens’ ability to be more actively engaged in fitness activities

I urge you to look deeply into the barriers Black teenagers face when it comes to keeping fit. Everyone—families, communities, and policymakers—has to get involved in creating a supportive environment and providing easy access to fitness resources. The first step is recognizing their unique challenges and then intentionally working towards solutions that encourage inclusivity and opportunity. When this is in place, our teens will have an opportunity to thrive physically, socially, and mentally as they go on to enjoy a healthier future.