When Did We Decide Kids Should Sit Still to Learn Best?

Children in previous generations walked to school, completed household chores, and played outdoors as integral parts of their daily routines. Today’s children often spend prolonged periods in sedentary activities, such as extended classroom time, screen use, and passive transportation, which dramatically contrasts with historical childhood physical engagement. (Lillio, 2022; Physical Activity Alliance, 2022).

When did we decide that stillness equals learning readiness?

The shift didn’t happen overnight. As transportation evolved, walking to school disappeared. As neighborhoods changed, unsupervised outdoor play became rare. As technology advanced, entertainment moved indoors and into handheld devices. Television, mobile devices, and video games, designed to capture and hold attention through constant stimulation, now occupy hours that previous generations spent running, climbing, and exploring. Each change seemed reasonable in isolation, but collectively they’ve created something unprecedented in human development: childhoods where virtual movement replaces physical experience.

Consider the modern child’s day. They may wake up, sit for breakfast while watching a screen, sit in a car seat, sit at a desk for hours with minimal recess, sit in aftercare, sit for dinner, sit for homework, sit to play video games before bed. Many children spend more time engaging with screens than with their own physical environment, yet we wonder why anxiety disorders and attention difficulties are on the rise.

The Mental Health Connection

The timing isn’t coincidental. As children’s daily movement has decreased, rates of anxiety, depression, and attention difficulties have surged. 

Recent surveys indicate that approximately 9.8% of children aged 3–17 in the United States have been diagnosed with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and 9.4% have an anxiety disorder, reflecting a significant increase over the past decade (Bitsko et al, 2022, CHADD, 2025). 

Children in the United States are also significantly less physically active today than previous generations, with just 20% meeting recommended daily activity guidelines compared to higher levels five decades ago. (Physical Activity Alliance, 2022).

Physical activity during childhood plays a vital role in developing neural pathways that support attention, emotional regulation, and learning (Pacheco et al., 2025). When a child runs, jumps, or spins, they’re not just burning energy—they’re literally constructing the neurological architecture needed for learning. The vestibular system processes movement and spatial orientation, and research supports its critical role in attention and emotional regulation (Foundation Cognitive, 2025).

Yet our response to children’s struggling attention and rising anxiety has often been to restrict movement further. Fidgety children lose recess privileges. Hyperactive students face shortened physical education. We medicate symptoms while removing the very experiences that could address root causes.

This isn’t to dismiss the legitimate need for therapeutic interventions. Many children benefit significantly from counseling, occupational therapy, medication, or other professional support. But what if movement-based approaches could enhance the effectiveness of these interventions rather than compete with them?

The Integrated Approach

Practitioners in physical, occupational, and creative arts therapies increasingly integrate movement as a foundational element that enhances outcomes in cognitive, emotional, and social functioning for children (Song et al, 2025; Su et al, 2022).

Physical therapists use movement to support motor development. Occupational therapists incorporate vestibular input for sensory integration. Music therapists engage rhythm and body awareness. Art therapists notice how movement affects creative expression. This is a clear pattern that movement is foundational and not separate from cognitive, emotional, or social development.

This understanding is creating space for movement-based approaches that work alongside traditional interventions. Yoga becomes one option in a toolkit that might also include physical therapy for motor development, occupational therapy for sensory integration, music therapy for regulation, art therapy for expression, talk therapy for processing emotions, and when appropriate, medication for neurochemical support.

Children need multiple tools for wellness, and movement is a foundational support that can make everything else more effective.

Rather than viewing movement as recreation or exercise, we can understand it as medicine that addresses specific developmental needs. The different approaches offer different therapeutic benefits.

• Yoga provides mindful breathing for self-regulation, body awareness for emotional recognition, and proprioceptive input that helps overstimulated nervous systems find calm. 
• Martial arts develop discipline and focus while providing structured outlets for physical intensity. 
• Dance integrates rhythm, spatial awareness, and creative expression. 
• Rock climbing builds problem-solving skills and confidence through physical challenge. 
• Even activities like gardening engage the vestibular system while connecting children to natural rhythms.

The video game generation particularly benefits from movement that integrates challenge with physical engagement. Where screens provide rapid visual rewards while the body remains passive, movement-based activities offer earned satisfaction through embodied achievement.

Beyond the Sports Solution

Many parents recognize their children need more movement and may automatically think “sports.” While team athletics benefit many children, they represent just one slice of the movement spectrum. Some children thrive with the social dynamics and competition of team sports. Others need individual, meditative movement. Some require high intensity to regulate their nervous systems. Others need gentle, restorative practices.

The child who struggles to sit still in math class might find focus through martial arts forms. The anxious child might discover calm through rhythmic movement. The socially hesitant child might build confidence through partner yoga poses that require communication and trust without the pressure of winning or losing.

How can we honor our children’s developmental need for movement while building the skills they need to thrive? The answer isn’t choosing between movement and learning, it’s recognizing that for developing brains, they’re inseparable. When we create environments that honor children’s biological need for movement, we’re not accommodating weakness, we’re supporting their foundation of healthy development. This understanding calls for expanded approaches to supporting children’s development, recognizing movement not as a luxury but as foundational medicine for growing minds.

References

Bitsko RH, Claussen AH, Lichstein J, et al. (2022). Mental Health Surveillance Among Children — United States, 2013–2019. MMWR Suppl; 71(Suppl-2):1–42. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.15585/mmwr.su7102a1

Children and Adults with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (CHADD). (2025). General Prevalance of ADHD in Children. Retrieved from https://chadd.org/about-adhd/general-prevalence-children/

Foundations Cognitive. (2025). Vestibular System Dysfunction: Understanding Balance, Coordination and Learning Connections. Retrieved from https://foundationscognitive.com/blog/vestibular-system-dysfunction

Lillio. (2022). History of early childhood education: then and now. Retrieved from

https://www.lillio.com/blog/early-childhood-education-then-and-now

Pacheco C, Culkin V, Putkaradze A, et al. (2025). Effects of movement behaviors on preschoolers’ cognition: a systematic review of randomized controlled trials. Int J Behav Nutr Phys Act, 22(1):12. doi: 10.1186/s12966-025-01705-y. 

Physical Activity Alliance. (2022). US Report Card on physical activity for children and youth. Retrieved from

https://paamovewithus.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/2022-US-Report-Card-on-Physical-Activity-for-Children-and-Youth.pdf

Song Y, Jia S, Wang X, et al. (2025). Effects of physical exercise on anxiety depression and emotion regulation in children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Front Pediatr, 12:1479615. doi: 10.3389/fped.2024.1479615.

Su W-C, Amonkar N, Cleffi C, et al. (2022). Neural Effects of Physical Activity and Movement Interventions in Individuals With Developmental Disabilities–A Systematic Review. Front. Psychiatry 13:794652. doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2022.794652