Kids_and_sportsLove to have a child that is fair, confident and doing well academically at school?  Of course you do, it’s probably at the top a parents priority for how they want their child to be.  What if you could do this fairly easily as well as decrease their likelihood of drug use and disease in the future?  Interested….. well, its easy and kids just think they are having FUN!

The answer: enrol them in a team sport.  Kids love sport and do it because it’s fun, but there is a whole string of benefits that sport teaches, instills and develops in kids without their or your knowing.  Sport makes kids thrive!

With a little encouragement kids will leave the ‘screen’ behind and pick a football or soccer ball instead. One of the most important lessons kids learn from sport is to play fair.  According the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, sport does do this, particularly if parents are actively involved in the sport – you can do this too by going to some games, talking about them afterwards, helping your child handle disappointments and showing them – modelling – respectful, good sports behaviour.

Some benefits of sport are easy to see, like co-ordination, playing in a team, but research shows that strategic thinking and even math skills are learned by playing sports.  Kids who play sport are less stressed as the physical activity is a release for negative emotions.

Now just for Girls – Research has found that s girls  who play sport are more likely to think well about their body, be more confident, and not overweight.  Girls are also interestingly enough,  less likely to become pregnant.

Finally, kids develop discipline – they learn to set goals, work to get to them and they then in turn learn that by working hard they can accomplish the things that they really want to in their lives.  As a parent, this string of benefits is sure hard to dismiss.  To your kid they are just having FUN.

 

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