The Importance of Rolling Down Hills

Every child I know goes through the spin phase.  Some children enjoy standing in one spot and spinning.  Some like to ride on spinning amusement park rides.  Some children like to be spun around by an adult holding their hands as their feet take flight.  My child likes to roll down hills.  He is great at finding hills to go down and will often seek them out when we are out places.  

Here's Miles at Putnum Park Raceway 

Here is a trip down the hill at the river front in Evansville.  

So you might ask why I encourage this behavior. I have seen some very compelling research that talks about the importance of building up the muscles around the ear drum and in the ear.  The research was done by Candace Meyer over at Minds in Motion.  There is also some amazing research that links movement to school success and reading success.  Allowing children the opportunity to spin in one way to build these muscles.   Plus who doesn't like to get a little dizzy from time to time.  I went down the hill once, but realized that I was having a Roger Murtaugh moment.