Have you heard of self-regulation? I hadn’t before I heard about Sparks Fly and met Luke MacDonald, owner of Aerobics First, in Halifax, Nova Scotia. I was blown away when I started talking to Luke about this program. Self-regulation is the ability to manage your own energy states, including emotions, behaviors and attention, in ways that are socially acceptable. I am sure all of us know someone who could use help with managing their energy states, especially in situations where we are required to focus on a task, such as school.
Enhancing a child’s ability to regulate him or herself has a dramatic impact, not only on the child’s wellbeing and capacity to learn, but an equally dramatic impact on the wellbeing of parents and educators. With this thought in mind, Sparks Fly was created. Run for Life in partnership with the Halifax Regional School Board and Luke MacDonald have created the Sparks Fly initiative to incorporate physical activity with academic success in elementary classrooms. Inspired by Dr. Stuart Shanker’s keynote at “The Collision” in Waterloo and Dr. John Ratey’s book “Spark”, Sparks Fly is an initiative that will mix physical activity with self-regulation principles in an educational setting.