Health
Deciding What Sport is Best for Your Children
The early years are a great time for children to get outside and expend some energy. Their bodies are growing and they certainly have the energy to spare. They can be left to their own devices in how to spend this energy after school or they could be enrolled in community programs like sports to give them a creative and supportive outlet for this energy while gaining valuable social skills. Children are highly unaware of the world, depending on their age of course, and some may not have any particular knowledge of any sport. This causes the parents to help the child come to a decision on which sport the child should play.
There are a lot of factors that come into a parent’s decision when signing up their child up for a sports team. Parents must remember that this is a delicate age of growth, coordination, and social interactions. It is important to get the child’s feedback on his or her opinion on what sports to get involved in. Maybe they like baseball or softball, or soccer, or basketball. Take this into consideration because finding a sport the child enjoys playing will be sure to motivate them into training and practice, thus developing the discipline to be used later in life.
Organized sports are also a great way for children to find friends. Find the popular sport where the child will have the greatest opportunity to be in a team with his friends or be in a position in which to easiest make friends. This will help the confidence of the child and possibly create long-lasting friendships throughout childhood. For this purpose, the sport will be a shared event, or backdrop, for the children to connect over, especially if the children favor the sport, they can be good peer support for the self-improvement.
Communities usually offer several different sports throughout the year and finding one can sometimes be difficult. The first thing to consider is when to have the child involved in a team. Maybe one or both of the parents will have some free time from work in the fall, or maybe the summer, and finding extra time to go to practice and games would be easier. Being there to support the child is paramount and attending these events to show that is necessary.
The next thing to consider is the physical needs of the child. Maybe he or she is a natural runner, then track or soccer will be a good sport. If he or she is tall, then basketball or volleyball would work out. Bigger boys could try out for football. This is not a means to limit the sport a child can play but to play to their strengths as it were to get them a natural advantage in the sport to increase self-esteem and confidence.
There are plenty of long-term benefits in signing up a child to an organized sports league. They will have a productive activity after school to keep them off the streets. They will also be gaining valuable life skills in the practices as well as the games. Skills like discipline, socializing, athleticism, discipline, and self-esteem can all be gained by enrolling in a sport. Sit down with your child to see what sports are feasible and which ones are preferred.