Exercise is essential to boost a child’s health and wellbeing. Encouraging them to incorporate physical activity into their daily lifestyle is a crucial responsibility as a parent. Some children simply don’t have an interest in sport, so it’s your job to get them off the games console and find a new hobby.
You may have high hopes of your son or daughter becoming a star athlete when they get older. While it’s not reasonable to force your dreams onto them, you can encourage their interests and open their mind to the different opportunities in the field of sport. In the below guide, you will find useful tips and tricks for helping your child achieve in whatever sport they choose.
Play without pressure
While you may believe putting the pressure on will push your child into a certain direction, it’s not beneficial for their mental health and development. It could result in the development of an unhealthy mindset, with beliefs that they’re a failure if they can’t accomplish what you expect from them. Instead, aim to stimulate their interest with encouragement to play different sports and find out where their talents lie.
Think of it in the same way toddlers learn to talk. Over time, they slowly pick up words and phrases before making sounds. At this young age, they don’t comprehend the aspect of failure, and you should aim to take the same approach to your child attempting to learn a new sport. If you have a relaxed attitude, you’ll see a natural development in their abilities.
Play together
Kids love spending time with their parents, especially if family-time is limited. When you can take some time out, make an effort to play sports with your kid. Children shape their interests around what their parents enjoy, so if you show a real interest in sport, they’re likely to develop the same way of thinking. Get a football and demonstrate how to pass and tackle, or perhaps have a race to the end of the yard and back to stimulate their competitive spirit.
Look at colleges
If your son or daughter is at the age where they should be starting to think about career options, you may dread the idea of having the ‘careers chat’ in case they immediately switch off. The earlier you start doing this, the easier it will be as they get older. It’s essential to begin the conversation by asking them where their hobbies and interests lie and how they could potentially turn each of them into a career.
If sports is one of the activities they’re keen to pursue, you could introduce them to asmscholarships.com. This website provides interviews from potential athletes alongside their academic achievements and prospects, which should give your child something to aim for.
Encourage them to join clubs
The best way to put your child’s talent into practice would be to persuade them to join sports clubs from a young age. In doing so, they will form friendships with like-minded people and learn basic sportsmanship skills such as teamwork, communication, hand-eye coordination and determination.