7
Good Reasons to Get Your Child Involved in Sports
by
Stacy Mahoe
Allaboutfastpitch.com
Encourage
a Healthy Lifestyle
Making exercise a part of your child’s life teaches your child
the importance of fitness. This, along with proper nutrition, plays
a vital role in maintaining health. Children need physical activity
every day and participation in sports helps fill this need. With today’s
wealth of video games and increasing computer literacy, daily physical
activity is often times forgotten. Getting your child involved with
sports helps them make exercise a part of their lifestyle and increases
their chance of a being a healthier adult.
Promote
Self Esteem
When a child realizes that they are getting better and better at their
sport, they can’t help but feel a sense of accomplishment. Choosing
a sport your child can grow and improve in gives your child an opportunity
to build self-esteem. Together, with positive reinforcement from you
their parent, they will gain confidence and have a more positive view
of themselves.
Learn
Goal Setting
I’m sure you’ll agree goal setting and success go hand in
hand. Participation in sports gives your child a fun, practical way
to learn about goal setting. They’ll see, experience, and learn
about how goal setting works. If your child’s coach doesn’t
cover goal setting, that’s okay! You as a parent can sit down
with your child and set goals. By assisting your child in developing
this skill, you give them a better chance at succeeding in life.
Learn
and Experience Teamwork
How often have you read a help wanted ad where the employer wants a
“team player” or a candidate that “works well with
others”? I see it all the time. How much more valuable are you
as an employee when you can put differences aside and get the job done?
Sports teach children about teamwork and about how their actions affect
other people. If they can’t learn to work together with teammates
while playing a sport they enjoy, how will they be able to work with
co-workers they may or may not like while performing a job they may
or may not enjoy? This is an important lesson to learn. Encourage your
child to be a team player and, as a sports parent, keep tabs on whether
or not your words and actions promote this trait in your child.
Develop
Time Management Skills
Adding extracurricular activities to your child’s schedule encourages
development of and time management and prioritization skills. Teach
your child that taking care of responsibilities, such as school work
and cleaning up after themselves, comes first. This gives them their
first taste of prioritization. Next, help your child formulate a plan
which enables them to efficiently handle their responsibilities while
still leaving time for sports practices and competitions. For example,
show your child how working on homework instead of playing outside during
their after-school program helps them finish their homework in time
for practice each day. Then go ahead and make that part of your plan.
Learn
About Dealing with Adversity
Everyone makes mistakes. Everyone has problems. How well you handle
these mistakes and problems directly affects happiness and quality of
life. Many people “get in a slump” and can’t get out
of it. Others continue making the same mistakes over and over again.
In sports, we always try to minimize errors, but we’re human.
Mistakes happen. Even professional athletes make bad choices and make
bad plays, but it’s not the mistake that counts. What you do from
that point forward carries much more significance. If your child learns
how to deal with adversity, errors, and challenges in sports, chances
are, they’ll be able to translate that skill to real life and
effectively minimize mistakes and/or bad decisions as well as competently
recover from set backs.
Have
Fun!
Positive experiences play an essential role in raising a happy, healthy
human being. Sports provide numerous opportunities for positive experiences
both for your child as an individual, and for your family as a whole.
“Sports parents” are blessed with the chance to watch their
child have fun while learning and developing as an athlete and as a
human being.
Get
Drills to teach your child baseball skills
Get
Drills to teach your child soccer skills
Get
Drills to teach your child football skills
