Sports and Your Kids

by Heather Long | More from this Blogger

26 Nov 2006 08:05 AM

Organized sports are a part of the American culture from football to baseball to basketball. Our children enjoy a variety of social and health benefits from participating in organized sports and we encourage parents to get active with their children and maintain those high levels of activity in order to combat the danger of childhood obesity - but it's important to understand that you need to balance that encouragement with a healthy dose of practicality.

There is a great deal of pressure put on children to succeed in sports by their parents, their coaches and their peers. The emphasis is placed on winning and on being the best and on practice, practice, practice. This goes beyond being healthy and active - it goes into a crushing arena of stress that can do under an adult, much less a child.

This form of pressure is overbearing on children and may actually contribute to injuries and more. This type of pressure can drive otherwise a sense of healthy competition out of children and have them ditching anything to do with organized sports by the time they reach high school. As I recall vividly in high school, the jocks were labeled jocks because the only thing they seemed to have going for them was their physical prowess at their personal sports.

It's important to recognize all of these factors - teach your kids about being healthy in their sports passions. You want them to understand that their bodies will complain when they need a break and that not only do the kids have to listen to it, but so do parents and coaches. The last thing you want are torn ligaments in your 9 year old. Surgery may help repair some of the damage, but it will not undo the long-term effects.

So as you encourage your kids to get involved in sports, support them and make sure you stay involved and supervise it so they don't go overboard and they don't get hurt and they don't get pounded to the point that they no longer have a genuine enjoyment of what is going on. Sports should be healthy on all levels and it's not about winning - it's about how you play the game.

Are your kids involved in sports?

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Learn more about Heather Long

Heather Long is 35 years old and currently lives in Wylie, Texas. She has been a freelance writer for six years. Her husband and she met while working together at America Online over ten years ago.

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