WHY SHOULD CHILDREN PLAY?

Have you ever imagined your childhood without sports? Games and sports activities are vital in the childhood of your kids as it offers them a lot of things to learn about life besides entertainment and pleasure time with friends. Encouraging to get involve the kids in different sports and game activities is really a important attempt for the benefits it could bring to your kids is invaluable and even significantly helpful as they get older.

There are a number of different but worthy reasons why you should encourage your children to get involved with sports:

• Discipline: No parents want to see their children go astray and fall into vices. If you want your children to stay away from the vices like drinking, smoking, gambling and even drugs, this is the time to teach them the value of health through sports. Making your kids indulged in different sports makes him feel and realize the value and significance of holistic lifestyle. In addition, indulgence with sports will open various avenues for healthy and balanced eating, exercise, ample rest and having proper sleep. Martial arts like Karate, Taekwondo, Judo and similar other sorts of sports activities are the best available sports options to keep your kids well physically, mentally, emotionally fit and disciplined.

• Teamwork: In general almost all sports are played by two or more than two persons, put differently, sports is a social game wherein your children will get to know how to recuperate with other children. A glaring beginning for your child as in the real world when your children go out to work in a company or organization it needs workers or employees that knows how to unify well with the work environment which comprises numerous employees, norms and standards that all of the people within the organization should follow. A good team player knows very well when to accelerate when the goings get hard, and knows how to take part in the role of a reinforcer when at the pursuits. Ball games like football, basketball, volleyball, cricket, table tennis, badminton, and the likes are the sports that can instill the spirit of being a good team player to your children.

• Respect: In sports all the players have to learn from the coach, as the coach is the teacher of that particular sport and every player has to respect him. Your child learns the significance of the word respect the very moment he is entangled with sports. Your child will learn how to learn from the cues passed on by his coach and will also admit suggestions from his teammates. All kinds of sports will certainly inculcate the value of deference with your child.

• Sportsmanship: There is a famous saying regarding the sports that “You win some, you lose some, it balances out at the end.” Kids learn how to be strong still even defeat is on hand through sportsmanship. Sports instill the most important virtue of humbleness in the kids, and when the kids grow older they will be able to accept failures and mistakes. Making essential improvements and adjustments in life will help your kids become importunate and learns not to do again same mistakes from the past.

• Preparation: To win in a game intensive training and careful planning should be done as “practice make a man perfect”. If your child requires hours to perfect his bowling in cricket, go ahead let him perfect his bowling for this will also improve his fielding and running as well as his stamina to throw ball. If your child requires to run better to rip existing records, go head let him run for several hours, this will not only shore up his chance of lowering records but can also help him ameliorate his stamina. In real life and in all the fields of life where planning and execution is required same principal is applied. With the aim getting perfect in execution of all sorts of plans related to life careful and thorough preparation must be done by the kids in the guidance of their parents.

• Determination: Sports will surely ameliorate the persistency of your children. With the intention of winning, a player should rate hard work and patience while working workmanship that will help him achieve distinguishable edge in carving out success.

• Competitiveness: Striving to win in every field of life your child is entered in can be certainly built around playing sports and games. Enthusiasm to give and all-out effort, expressing grace under pressure and capability to admit defeat when losing to a better team or a player can haul out from playing sports and organized games.

• Constructive use of time: Kids and teenagers exude with physical energy. When they are tangled in sports, their physical energies are used up in a positive manner. Adolescence is such an vulnerable age, if young people are given free time they might get caught up in wrong activities or may plunge in bad company or may also show anti-social behavior. Therefore, the significance of sports in society is that it keeps young people from becoming anti-social elements, who might otherwise disturb the fragile structure of society.

• Health: Playing sports on a regular basis helps your child keep his immune system strong and for this reason, prevents occurrence of diseases. It also raises the desire for food of the kids. Hence, sports encourages good health and healthy mind.

• Confidence: Self-confidence is inculcated in a person through sports. When a child stands out in a specific sport, he becomes very self-confident. This makes him attain victory in all walks of life, making him even more confident in other matters.

• Decision making: In sports, a child is supposed to make quick and wise decisions according to the situation that he is in. Therefore, a person who participates in sports is able to make wise and quick decisions in other areas of life as well. 

Besides the above there are numerous more benefits of sports. Besides being significant for kids, taking up a sports career in their later life, has its own advantages. A sportsperson often tours to other countries to play matches and in the course, learns a lot about the cultures of those nations. Money and fame are the other plus points of the sportsperson.

Starting Sports

If children are plunged into the competitive sport earlier than they are actually emotionally or physically capable, they are likely to face dissatisfaction and stress and may quit playing sports on the whole.

Young children

• Children under eight years are required to have the freedom to play, explore and learn the skills of throwing discs and catching balls, kicking and hitting a ball, jumping on a skipping rope, running and swimming in an enjoyable manner. After having these skills they can confidently and unfailingly move on to the next step.

• Parents can play a significant role in the wholesome development of children in this age group by playing games them that help children to learn these skills in an enjoyable manner and that too without any pressure. For instance, kicking a ball to each other in the backyard or park, playing badminton, throwing a ball through a hoop, throwing and catching the flying discs or playing bat and ball games where everyone has a turn of bating and bowling and the scores are not counted. Children require lots or practice at doing well before they can learn to lose humbly.

8-10 years old

• According to their individual development the children in this age group can join in organized sports/competition (e.g., inter-school sports competition) that is tailored to meet the developing needs of the children.
• They require help in skill development and coping with disappointment when they lose the game.
• Children loosing the games or competitions too often are most likely to give up in few months, so ensure that every child has some successes, and it is very important to keep them into the game.

11-12 years and over

• Children in this age group can play and participate into a variety of games and sports and can also enjoy playing them along with enhancing their skills, in learning, team building and working together.
• A few children at this age start showing special interest in a particular sport and here they can be benefitted from individual coaching.
• Children at this age are required to learn about how to behave when playing, and when winning and losing the game.

For children who want to drop out of competitive team sport, other sporting activities like gymnastics, roller-skating, cycling, mountaineering or horse riding may take place.