Parents are always in a relentless search for ways to keep their children healthy and successful. This usually leads parents to focus on setting up healthy diets for their children; in order to take care of the quantity and quality of their food. Despite the major importance of this step, it should not distract them from another important aspect of the health and success spectrum, namely sports for children
What is the Importance of Sport for Children?
Instead of allowing children to spend long, idle hours in front of the TV or behind computers and youtube for kids on tablets, it is important to encourage them to be physically active and play sports as soon as they are two years of age. That will significantly contribute to their fitness and long-life health as individuals.
In addition, sports create great opportunities for your child to develop their social and leadership skills through regular interaction with peers and participation in teamwork. Sports also boost a child’s self-confidence and sense of self-worth because of the support they receive from their parents and their success doing something they love. That explains why children who play sports are more likely to excel academically as their good health, self-confidence, and familiarity with the concepts of success and loss all qualify them to be high achievers.
How to Encourage my Child to practice Sports?
There are various methods to encourage your child to take up sports; the first one is to lead them by your own example.
– Be their role model and choose to join them in their exercises.
– Support them to choose the sport they like before joining a team, and always acknowledge and praise their progress.
– Choosing a nursery that encourages playing sports plays a great role in defining and developing your child’s interests and skills.
– Little Steamers Nursery’s daily programs are full of fun physical activities. In addition to that, there are dance classes that are run under the supervision of a certified dance teacher who is specialized in motivating children’s fitness through music and movement.
– Pick the right sport that fits your child’s health, age, and skills.
Children have different preferences, so how can you pick just the right sport for your child?
1- From 2-5 years, remember that at this age, you should only concern about improving their physical skills. So we recommend to let them play free team sports because they hate restrictions and rules.
2- From 6 to 9 years, you can sign them up for a sport they wish to play.
3- Finally, once they are 10 years old, they are ready to join a team to experience competition; so that they could learn from their success and failure.