My 5 yr old daughter started asking last year when she could start football! I'm not ready for that one yet- hopefully I can push it off for awhile and find something else that will interest her!
I tend to agree with a lot of the people here when they say that if the kids ask for something to do, that's when I look into it. DS loves soccer so he's been doing that since he was 4 and DD wanted to get back into gymnastics so she's doing that again now. My youngest DD wants to do karate but she's 3 and she can sign up when she is 4 but I'm still trying to figure out whether or not we will do that.
I am up in the air about organized sports. My mom believes that it is a good thing because it teaches getting along with others and accepting losing. If my son wanted to be part of organized sports and if it did not cost much, it would be fine with me. As a family we play tennis (3 person) and football (3 person--this does look rather funny). My husband feels it is important that our son knows the fundamentals of football and baseball so we watch them on TV. Now that's my kind of participation.
You say IF your son wanted to be part. That implies that he doesn't, at least for now. While I agree with your mom, he can learn those skills in other ways. I wouldn't force a kid to join sports for those reasons when he has no desire to do so. Your husband's attitude amuses me. He feels watching sports on TV is important. Not basketball? My husband could care less about any sport. He did sit down and watch Ohio State win the Rose Bowl with me and our son this past New Year's!
I hope all my kids will always be involved in one sport or another, it's up to them what they like and would like to pursue. Right now we are doing dance and swimming, and they also do soccer in the fall.
We have had dd in a semi organized sport before. We have joined a local homeschool group that has soccer. The kids are put on teams and spend part of the morning practicing and then part playing a game against another team. She hates getting up for it but has a ton of fun while there. In the spring we will be doing a similar type of thing with baseball. For the most part she is just trying things out to see if she likes them. She told me once how is she going to know if she likes it unless she tries it? She does a basketball class right now through our town's rec program too. As she gets older we will find what she likes and then she can concentrate on that if she wants to but if she doesn't she will probably just stick with the semi organized sports and things like that for phys ed.
Gymnastics has been a God-send for dd 8. She always was comparing herself to her older sister (4yrs older!) and always felt as if she couldn't measure up. We put her in gymnastics and all that disappeared! She has so much more confidence now. It probably helps that she can do one thing that her older sister can't! However, I need to find something active for older sister to do. She loves to play the piano and is fabulous at it, but finger exercise just doesn't burn alot of calories! My problem is that I don't want to spend hours at the ball field or whatever every week. I wish I could find something for her that is like an hour or two a week.
Jackie, My husband amuses me too :lol:. He feels that since baseball and football is a big part of our society, it would be advantages for our son to know the basics. There will be times in our son's life when he will be with a group of people sitting around watching sports or playing them, and it would be good for him to know what is going on. My husband does not include basketball or soccer probably because he does not understand those sports very well. I agree that it is not a good idea to force sports onto a child. We do force our child to do some physical activity but we try to make it fun. Fortunately he enjoys it. If he didn't, I don't know what we would do. The physical activites that we do as a family is snowboarding, hiking, backpacking, and tennis. None of those are organized sports except tennis. Our son would like to be part of an organized tennis group, but there is not one anywhere close to where we live.
Over-rated. Mostly useful for physical activity, which can be gotten elsewhere. Encourages competitiveness, often with a mean-streak and at any cost, and those are not values we wish to encourage. We tried it as a social outlet for my oldest son when he was 5-7 or so. It failed miserably (though the exposure was probably good for him, all around there would have been better things), and we will never go back to that world. Competition is healthy, but not in the environment you often see in kids' sports. It's just crazy, and the parents are a big part - if not the main part - of it all. We compete in academic bees, my kids also do individual sports like karate and tennis. Mostly we focus on team work, leadership, working as part of a team - through scouting, which emphasizes growing the boys spiritually, mentally, emotionally, AND physically. They get exposure to sports that way, and enjoy it in those smaller spurts. It's more fun when it's just a game.
I thought about this and I gotta say a lot of the feelings will depend on the parents. Obviously someone who is very athletic and played sports or some other organized physical thing (like a dance or gymnastics team for example) will want their child to try it too. I was very athletic and as Samantha got older I sought out different activities for her to try. She tried a few things and dance turned out to be her thing that she excells at and that is what she competes at but she also loves to do other sports like basketball and football and swimming for fun. We love the competitive aspect of dance and we feel that it is a good thing all around for our child. Nobody will ever convince me that her competing is in anyway negative. We see it in her self confidence and ability and goals that she has set for herself. On the flip side a parent who is not or was not athletic is not going to seek out athletic things for their child to do. Not everyone has the same ability or coordination and some are better at one thing and some are better at others. The parents who do not like organized sports would probably be okay with something at the Y where no score is kept and everyone wins. I personally would not be happy with my child in a sport where everyone wins.
Carl did softball as a kid and hated it. He doesn't participate in sports, doesn't watch sports. But he encourages the kids to play, and goes to all Phillip and Rachael's soccer games. He goes to Phillip's street hockey tourneys, and it's an ALL DAY event. (And he's bored during most of it, lol!). He would not be happy if score wasn't kept; ok, he wouldn't mind with 4yo's playing, but that's 4yo's!) And I've never really played any sport competitively myself. So I wouldn't say that non-athletes are not going to seek out athletics for kids!
It largely depends on the coach. I coached soccer for about 15 years and tried hard to focus on teamwork. Yes, it was nice to win (and we did reach regional finals a couple of times), but more important was feeling part of the team. For example, I remember one lad who was a real loner and his teammates began to shun him. Every week, I'd put together a newsletter that highlighted one team member, and his teammates learned some interesting things about him and started to befriend him. I'd also hand out a player of the game award each week (with a soccer ball to sew on their shirt), ensuring that every team member won at least once. Everyone would cheer - parents and players - and the winner would feel quite special. One week, this young lad, who, to put it mildly, was not a good soccer player, accidentally scored. I put him in as a forward. Someone on the other team kicked the ball, it bounced off this player and rolled into the goal. You wouldn't believe how loud were the cheers from the parents and players. The grin on this young lad's face was priceless - as was the grin on his dad's face. It was one of those moments that coaches just love. I'm sorry if this comes across as boastful; I don't mean that. The point is that, when the coach focuses on players and teamwork and gives everyone equal time, playing a sport can be a very valuable experience for everyone - regardless of their ability. By the end of a season, a child will know what it means to play on a team, and those friendships can last for many years. (The other day, a young adult came up to me at an event. He used to play on one of my teams. I hardly remembered him, but he remembered 'Coach Steve' and most of his teammates from about 12 years ago.)
Rachael has been blessed with some excellent coaches. Just like a teacher makes or breaks a classroom, a coach makes or breaks a sports team. Also, when there's a good coach, the kids want to stay with him. My kids have played with the same kids each year (yes, the lose and gain some, but...) and it really makes a difference when they know one another and can work together.
We have loved organized sports for my son. He plays baseball in the spring, soccer in the fall, floor hockey is starting now and... he has done swim team as well. He just turned 9. He has done sports since he was 6. It gives us a great way to get his excess energy burned off. He has plenty to spare and we have had amazing coaches so far. One of my good friends has been his coach quite a bit and she always rotates the kids, putting them all in different positions and all equal playtime and their motto is always, "Have Fun!" He loves it and doesn't get upset when he doesn't do well, even though for the most part he does do well. This last fall his soccer team struggled to win one game. He and I talked about it on a couple of occasions and he said that he really missed winning as much, but that he was still having fun. When you lose every game sometimes it is hard to have as much fun, but he still loved it. I really agree that it is all in the coach. So far we have had great coaches and I hope that continues.
In general the people I have come in contact with are not that way. Non sports people generally don't push sports and sports people do. Just from my experience. I've never met your husband.
Yes, I definately am not an athlete either, but in the little town where we lived, baseball is what is done. So my oldest played for three full years, and a year of soccer before we saw that it just wasn't a working environment for him. And the kids are still highly athleticized in karate and tennis - tennis is QUITE the workout if you havent ever tried it! I'm happy to watch from the sidelines. But in general, I wouldn't disagree with Tiffany. I think a lot of us non-athletes probably try it out, but I'd bet very few of us stick with it. I do hope my children continue with the two sports they seem to be enjoying now. It's good for them in so many ways!
