When Strides Physical Therapy embarked on the mission to provide wellness services to the general community in addition to therapy services to those in greatest need, we were extremely passionate about getting our message out. We felt we had so much great information to share from our studies and years of practice in the realm of pediatrics and movement development, but that information was not reaching a majority of families. We wanted to empower all families with greater knowledge about their growing babies and children, to provide information that sparked dialog and informed choices. And we especially wanted to reach the babies and children, who are ALL at risk for exercise deficiency, lack of motor proficiency, and sedentary lifestyles in our electronic, wireless, mobile world. We wanted to help bring some balance back into our lives to support a healthier future, one family at a time. Thus, Move Play Grow was born!
What we didn’t know was how difficult the process is for getting the Move Play Grow message out to be heard and, especially, acted upon. We all search on Google, but if you don’t know what information you need, how do you search for it? How do you find out about things you never knew existed? Our concept is relatively new. Having spoken to many of our colleagues, “baby wellness” has been tried but never with great success. Often clinics must stop providing the services because it isn’t cost effective. However, as we posted more, searched more, taught more, and yes, marketed more, we too found resources outside our immediate community…many rich resources we never knew existed. After two years we are now consistently finding people who speak our language, practice what we are teaching, and who are also searching for a wider community for support in getting our message heard.
Let’s, please, find a way to come together, to act, and to grow together as a stronger community that will inspire more people, families, babies and children to get out and MOVE. As a society, our health and future depends on it. Let’s become “The Movement Community.”
I’m including in this post a trailer for a movie called The Moving Child, which is still in production. Hopefully it will soon reach it’s monetary goal so it might be completed and distributed. I urge all of you to take 5 minutes to watch this trailer and act upon it, whether that means getting out for a walk or bike ride, cranking up the music to “rock out” with your family in the living room, turning off your devices to be 100% present with your families, and/or making a donation to the Marian Chace Foundation to help them finish the film. We make these movement choices everyday and I find these choices become easier after a reshuffling of priorities, and yes, lots and lots of practice!!!
Let’s MOVE! PLAY! GROW!
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