Sports for Children - 6 Reasons Why Sports is Important for your Child?

Do You Know Why sports is important for your Child’s Growth?

My entire childhood was deprived of playing with my friends in the park. When I was 4 or 5 years old, my parents won’t let me go to the park to play, they would keep pressuring me to study hard; they wanted me to be good in studies and score well. In fact they never allowed me to go to school picnics or participate in any other recreational activity. Whenever I tried to convince them once in a while, they will say NO. At some point of time I was getting suffocated but they won’t understand my perspective. There were no sports, no games, and also no outings. After a while I stopped asking them and continued being indoor.

When I completed my 12^th standard, I decided to pick up a job along with my graduation. My morning started somewhere around 8 O’clock, I would wake up an hour before work and rush to get ready. This was my routine for a very long time. I never included an exercise regime in the morning like going to the park for a jog or walk.

Of late my parents started insisting me to outdoor and indulge in some kind of physical activity as it is good for the body, I will get fresh air and can keep myself fit too. They kept on forcing me to get up early in the morning and spend some time outside in the park. They taunted and nagged me for being lazy and having unhealthy habits which will harm my body.

Every time they will force me to get up early, my answer would be I am not habitual to go to the park because when I wanted to go outside and play you didn’t let me go, they are always speechless to this answer. The entire childhood, I craved to play outside or indulge in any kind of sports but this happiness was taken away from me.

I would always suggest parents to indulge their children in sports activities from the very beginning of their age. There are lots of benefits of sports for a child’s growth; I am going to mention some of them:

1. Sports develop self esteem:

Sports can help in developing your kid’s self esteem and confidence. This will also boost trust in their abilities. Important things to remember here is don’t criticize them for winning and losing as it will affect their self esteem. Criticism should be constructive, it will also help your kids to learn their weaknesses and they will strive to improve on themselves.

2. Enhance your kid’s communication skills:

Sports will help in developing your child’s communication skills which will help them even when they grow old. Sports also give children an opportunity to interact with people from different age groups and make new friends. It builds a sense of belongings. These skills will help your kids in their future career, relationships and very essential for child’s growth.

3. Sports give courage to accept defeat:

Sports teaches your kids sportsmanship. At every point in life, someone will win and the other will lose. Sports will make your child courageous so that they will accept defeat and learn from their mistakes and won’t take it to their heart. He will understand that losing and winning is normal, the most important thing is getting up again and keep trying.

4. Inculcate the habit of discipline:

Every sport needs discipline; it can be physical, mental or tactical. You need to be disciplined to become better in any sport or other aspects of life. Discipline helps your kids grow in their life to achieve any goals they have set in their life. It will instill in them the habit of getting up early, eating proper food and sleeping well which is very essential for the rest of their lives.

5. Sports make kids a team player:

I read somewhere that there is no “I” in team. Working as a team to reach common goals will make a child learn about bonding at an early stage. Teamwork is utmost required skill for a child to learn important life lessons and gives a good opportunity to kids to share their ideas and stick together in any environment. They will also learn how to function in a team environment and turn out to be a well – rounded adults.

6. Sports maintain good physical and mental health:

Sports keep your kids mentally and physically fit. This is will remain an asset throughout their life. Sports also have a profound effect on our way of life like dealing with depression or any other mental illness as well physical pain in the body. It has a therapeutic role to play in having a healthy lifestyle.

There are also many ways you can keep your children active in sports.

Lead by example by playing along with them.
Encourage your child by being available for any sports activities organised by school / college or society events. Your presence will boost their energy.
Try to limit unnecessary activities like watching television, or playing games in smartphones.
Communicate with them. Share long term goals.