Have you considered getting your child into a sport to keep them active but wasn’t sure if it was worth all the time and effort? Well, although having a kid that plays a sport can be a very large time commitment, the benefits that come out of it make it very well worth it. Growing up playing a sport, kids will gain a wide variety of physical, mental, and social skills most people wouldn’t expect them to.
First and probably most obvious, your child will improve their physical health. Regular physical activity, such as soccer or basketball, improves a child’s fitness and helps them to stay in shape. Studies show that three in ten kids in the U.S. are overweight or obese, so keeping up with a sport will help prevent that scare by keeping them off the couch or from in front of the TV a little longer each day.
Although you may not think of this because kids are typically running around rather than talking, playing a sport can really help to develop one’s social skills. Sports typically involve being on a team, and while you’re on that team it is important to communicate new ideas, listen to others as part of a group, and use communication to solve problems by working together to better the team rather than just one individual.
Basic social skills like this are important to learn while you’re young so you can reap the benefits of them later in the future. On top of that, a child can grow into the first lead role of their lives by taking a captains role in a sports team, teaching them valuable leadership skills that can come in handy as an adult.
Sports can be a great way to boost a child’s confidence through encouragement and compliments, highlighting areas where they are doing well and rewarding them for showing endeavor and improvement in these areas. It is also important that children can learn to take constructive criticism from coaches, and accepting and applying what was said to make better the situation can benefit them in the long run.
Advice and tips for development should be treated as motivational rather than insulting, and the sooner the child realizes that and acts on those words of advice, the better off they’ll be. Aside from a coach and parent’s encouragement, there is no greater feeling as a child than playing a major role in some sporting success.
The respect earned from your teammates is huge and feeds directly into boosting the child’s self-esteem, resulting in better playing and better encouragement from that child himself to his teammates.
In the end, playing a sport is fun and the memories and friends made last a lifetime! Basically, playing a sport is one the key ingredients your child needs to stay physically and mentally healthy, which has a direct influence on how they perform in the future.