Children develop many misconceptions as they grow. The source of these range from TV commercials, movies, books, teachers, and parents. The ideas range from Santa coming down the chimney to the Easter Bunny delivering candy and eggs. What actually is stored in the long-term memory as fact and what is stored as a fantasy is the subject for brain based research.
Some misconceptions that are common are laughable: Bats are blind, George Washington had wooden teeth, Mrs. O’leary’s cow caused the Great Chicago Fire, the sun goes up and down, ostriches stick their heads in the sand, chameleons change color for camouflage, etc. There are thousands more but these in particular are usually told by parents, teachers, and even viewed in children’s cartoons. Some misconceptions, like the ones mentioned become clarified as a person grows and experiences new situations.
What is a misconception? It can be defined as falsities learned at a young age that stay retained if unchallenged as one grows into adulthood. Misconceptions are not unusual and are a part of the the learning process. Before misconceptions can be corrected, they need to be identified. Some become deeply entrenched and may impede learning because the child is unaware that the knowledge is wrong and therefore, a new experience becomes interpreted through a particular belief.
Misconceptions occur in all aspects of a child’s life. Adults even form misconceptions due to advertising and research. Sports is no exception to the misconception world. With science and research changing on a daily basis it is difficult to determine what to believe. Data can be interpreted with various meanings. For instance, the topic of weight conditioning in children will stunt bone growth through damaging the growth plates. This belief was proven to be false as reported by The American College of Sports Medicine. They state that the “risks associated with strength training are no greater than other sports and activities in which children regularly participate”. For more information on sports myths go to http://www.acsm.org/access-public-information/articles/2012/01/13/youth-strength-training-facts-and-fallacies
A misconception that has recently been on television is the Volkswagen Passat: Toss commercial with the parent teaching a young boy to pitch a baseball. It actually took me a couple of times watching this commercial to realize what was wrong. It wasn’t the mere fact the neither child nor adult can throw the ball, it was the process that made the throw bad and created a funny commercial. It was in direct conflict with motor coordination which is the ability to control our limbs to achieve the desired outcome of correctly tossing a ball. The commercial is very amusing and almost loses its point when the focus is on the adult teaching the child to throw the ball. But, it makes a person wonder how many adults actually know why this is forming a misconception with children and how many children are trying to emulate the action of this young boy throwing a ball.
