Negosentro.com | 4 Tips For Helping Your Child Choose a Sport | Getting your child involved in a sport is one of the best things a parent can do. Sports provide opportunities for developing skills, making new friends, and learning discipline from an early age. Plus, it can be fun for the whole family to go to games and support your new athlete! Here are a few tips for helping your child choose a sport to get involved with.
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Consider Their Age
Your dream might be for your child to follow in your footsteps and play a specific sport, but the reality is that it might not be a good fit for them at the moment. Before you start searching for baseball gloves, consider where your child is in their developmental, both physically and mentally. Emotional maturity comes into play a lot in sports and can be asking a lot of children who haven’t learned how to regulate their emotions yet.
Certain sports require levels of flexibility and motor skills that younger kids won’t have developed yet, and it could make playing very difficult for them. If your child is significantly smaller than other children their age, it might be a good idea to speak to their coach about whether or not the team is a good fit for them. And it’s always good to talk to your child’s doctor for their input on whether a certain sport is safe and healthy for your child.
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Understand the Commitment
Some sports leagues for little children can be extremely laid-back and require very little time commitment. Others can be more competitive and require frequent practice and even traveling for games. If your family has a busy schedule, it’s important to understand the time commitment expected before you sign your child up for a sport.
It’s also important to gauge your child’s likelihood to commit to being part of a team. Do they often give up on interests after initially being enthusiastic? Do they get overwhelmed easily and need to have more flexibility in their schedule? Even if these things are true, your child can still play sports, they’ll just have to join a less competitive team.
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Ask Questions
Once your child has joined a team, it’s important to keep gauging their interest level throughout the season. When you pick them up from games and practices, ask questions about how they felt during the session. Are they having fun and enjoying their teammates? Do they get good feedback from the coach? What are they learning about in practice?
These questions can help you understand whether your child should continue playing this sport or if they might need a break. First and foremost, it helps to ensure that your child understands that their enjoyment is the most important thing about being in sports. Even young children can start to feel an unhealthy level of pressure if their parents are too invested in the outcome of games and their performance.
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Explore Your Options
It can be irritating sometimes how often children lose interest in something they’ve just started. So many parents spend money on musical instruments or art supplies only for the child to forget about them a week later. But exploring interests is a big part of a child’s development and should be encouraged. Don’t be afraid to get your child involved in a few different sports before picking one. You can try showing them videos of games online to help pique their interest and help them decide what they like.
At the end of the day, the sport that’s the best fit for your child is whichever one they enjoy the most. No matter how long they stick with a sport, getting involved will be a positive learning experience and will help your child develop into a well-rounded adult. And if they end up going pro and heading to the Olympics someday, they’ll thank you for putting them on that path.
