Baseball, softball, swimming, water polo, gymnastics, dance, karate, basketball, football, lacrosse, rugby, skiing, snowboarding, field hockey, cross country, track, ice hockey \u2013 collectively, my kids have played 17 sports! My garage has been full of sports gear for years. I\u2019ve spent countless hours driving to and from the field or gym, and watching games, meets, and races.<\/p>\n
Why do we put in so much effort? Why so many sports?<\/p>\n
Millions of children participate in organized sports each year. The benefits are numerous: fitness, friendships, commitment, team building skills, and of course, fun. However, there are some potential problems as well: injuries, stress, and pressure.<\/p>\n
Focus on the fun in kids\u2019 sports<\/p>\n
Think through the goals of your child playing sports. Hopefully, the first thing that comes to mind is having fun! A lot of kids love sports, but this basic concept so easily gets lost in the pressure to win or excel.<\/p>\n
Some ways you and your kids can focus on the fun of playing a sport include:<\/p>\n
Most of the time our kids don\u2019t play sports so they can become Olympic athletes or professional dancers. That would be unrealistic. But by encouraging them to learn the joys of physical fitness and competition at a young age, we can help them grow into healthy, physically active adults.<\/p>\n
To help them develop a lifelong love of fitness you can:<\/p>\n
If your child wants to participate in sports they<\/em> should choose what to play \u2013 not you. Let them chase their interests and encourage them to try a variety of activities. Of course, that may lead them down my path of trying 17 different sports! In our case, some were very brief experiments \u2013 which was okay by me. The shortest was when my daughter came home after one week of water polo camp and told me how much she hated it: \u201cThey\u2019re just trying to drown me Mom!\u201d Usually, I insisted on a full season or camp before letting them quit \u2013 I gave in that time!<\/p>\n Even if it\u2019s clear your child excels in one sport, it\u2019s not good for them to concentrate year-round on a single activity. Having them play different sports in different seasons accomplishes several goals. They learn a variety of skills \u2013 such as kicking\/running in soccer or hand-eye coordination in baseball or softball. Mixing up their sports also prevents injuries and burnout. Increasingly, young athletes are developing overuse injuries and stress fractures from specializing in one sport or position too early for their growing bodies. Cross-training can help prevent this.<\/p>\n The interests of your family as a whole come before the demands of your child\u2019s teams. You can preserve family dinners together<\/a> by eating before or after practices, even if this is not your regular mealtime. You can also ask coaches that practice not be held during dinner hours.<\/p>\n Support active kids who\u2019ll become active adults. The statistics on physical activity in American children \u2013 and adults \u2013\u00a0are not encouraging. While 20 to 30 million children participate in youth sports programs, about 80% drop out by the age of 12. For adults, only 3% of the population does 30 minutes of physical activity each day. Being physically active helps kids and adults maintain a healthy weight.<\/p>\n Your positive parenting<\/a> and support for your child in sports will help them succeed and avoid these concerning statistics. Let the games begin!<\/p>\n My Doctor Online<\/strong> Baseball, softball, swimming, water polo, gymnastics, dance, karate, basketball, football, lacrosse, rugby, skiing, snowboarding, field hockey, cross country, track, ice hockey \u2013 collectively, my kids have played 17 sports! My garage has been full of sports gear for years. I\u2019ve spent countless hours driving to and from the field or gym, and watching games, meets, and races.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":874,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[195],"tags":[196,608,662,396,197,570,198],"class_list":["post-873","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-being-active","tag-kids-sports","tag-kids-in-sports","tag-sports","tag-sports-drinks","tag-starting-kids-in-sports","tag-water","tag-young-athletes","ages-all-school-ages"],"metadata":{"_edit_lock":["1732298239:6"],"_edit_last":["6"],"_thumbnail_id":["874"],"slide_template":["default"],"video_format_choose":["youtube"],"_wpb_vc_js_status":["false"],"_custom_body_class":[""],"_yoast_wpseo_content_score":["90"],"qode_animate-page-title":["no"],"qode_show-page-title-text":["no"],"qode_show-page-title-image":["no"],"qode_show-sidebar":["2"],"qode_hide-featured-image":["no"],"_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":["195"],"wpfp_favorites":["558"],"_yoast_wpseo_primary_ages":["293"],"_yoast_indexnow_last_ping":["1732298274"],"_wp_old_slug":["let-games-begin-5-tips-keeping-fun-sports"],"_yoast_post_redirect_info":["a:4:{s:6:\"origin\";s:56:\"pediatricsblog\/let-games-begin-5-tips-keeping-fun-sports\";s:6:\"target\";s:35:\"pediatricsblog\/keep-kids-sports-fun\";s:4:\"type\";i:301;s:6:\"format\";s:5:\"plain\";}"],"ase_chapter_enable_timeline":["off"],"_yoast_wpseo_focuskw":["keep kids' sports fun"],"_yoast_wpseo_metadesc":["Lots of benefits to having kids play sports! Try these 5 tips to start your kid off on the right foot in organized sports"],"_yoast_wpseo_linkdex":["67"],"_yoast_wpseo_focuskeywords":["[]"],"_yoast_wpseo_keywordsynonyms":["[\"keep the fun in kids' sports\"]"],"_yoast_wpseo_estimated-reading-time-minutes":["4"],"_yoast_wpseo_wordproof_timestamp":[""],"ase_map_component_start_point":["a:2:{s:3:\"lat\";d:29.76;s:3:\"lng\";d:-95.38;}"],"ase_mapbox_style":["openstreet"]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kpthrivingfamilies.org\/pediatricsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/873","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kpthrivingfamilies.org\/pediatricsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kpthrivingfamilies.org\/pediatricsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kpthrivingfamilies.org\/pediatricsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kpthrivingfamilies.org\/pediatricsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=873"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/kpthrivingfamilies.org\/pediatricsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/873\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4729,"href":"https:\/\/kpthrivingfamilies.org\/pediatricsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/873\/revisions\/4729"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kpthrivingfamilies.org\/pediatricsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/874"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kpthrivingfamilies.org\/pediatricsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=873"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kpthrivingfamilies.org\/pediatricsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=873"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kpthrivingfamilies.org\/pediatricsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=873"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Have kids play different sports<\/strong><\/h3>\n
Find balance<\/strong><\/h3>\n
Resources for Parents:<\/h3>\n
\nEat Well, Be Active, Live Better \u2013 Create Healthy Habits
\n<\/a>Sports Injuries in Children and Teens<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"