Get Your Kid Into Sports for Lifelong Benefits!

Older generations enjoy being cynical about younger generations. They seem to actually enjoy thinking that all the "kids these days" do is sit around playing video games and browsing the Internet. Instead of enjoying face-to-face interactions, they sit there with their eyes glued to their smartphones. Instead of going out and playing with their friends or getting some exercise, they're inside their rooms playing on their PlayBoxes or X-Stations or whatever.

There’s no doubt that this is somewhat of an exaggeration of the gravity of the problem; a lot of kids really don’t fit this description, there is a worry in most parents that their child isn’t social or active enough.

This is why it’s important that you encourage your child to be physically active. And one of the best ways of getting them to engage in physical activity is to get them into a sport. Here are the things you should consider about this topic, including the ways of getting them into it, the benefits, and the caveats.

The right mindset and equipment

There are many kids out there who simply aren’t all that interested in sports. Try as you might, they’re simply not interested. This is fine, but you’ll have to get them interested in solo exercise in some form! Simple running, cycling, and swimming can be great. Swimming is especially good for boosting your immune system through cardiovascular and muscular fitness. The right equipment can help encourage the right mindset and ensure safety; swim caps for teams, for example, can really get your kid into the spirit, whether they’re planning on swimming competitively or simply want to enjoy swimming by themselves and beating their own records.

Getting fit - and staying that way

This is perhaps the most obvious benefit of getting your kid into a sport. Sports equals good exercise, and exercise means getting fitter, right? (Unless it’s an eSport, which is basically making sporting competitions out of video games. Those don’t count.) But something else we need to remember is that getting a kid into sport will also help them remain fit throughout their lives. This is precisely because it helps them get into the right health-conscious mindset from an early age, and also because they’ll be fit enough to not have much difficulty advancing their exercise later in life. When you get a kid into sports at a young age, they will gain a long-term awareness of the effects of exercise on their body.

A family thing

Sure, you can do the more sedentary activities with them. You can pick up a controller and play those video games with them, for example. In fact, there are actually benefits to doing this sort of thing. But you could do with some exercise too, right? So you should both get some exercise together. Being a grown-up, doesn’t mean you get to sit inside all day. (Okay, so you can, but still, it’s not exactly wise.) Playing sports with your kid will really help them get into it. You’ll both get fitter while also deepening your bond. Try getting the whole family involved!

Self-esteem boosts

Self-esteem is one of the most crucial elements in anyone’s life, but it’s not something a lot of people spend that much time thinking about when they’re adults. It’s important for us to recognize that self-esteem development starts at a young age. There are a lot of people out there with self-esteem issues, as these can be more debilitating than you might think. You should do some reading into the subject of self-esteem in kids. Playing and even winning at sports doesn’t exactly guarantee lifelong self-esteem, but it can help a lot. Victory isn’t always necessary; improvement, fun, and good physical health will help the development of healthy self-esteem throughout life. Keep them encouraged!

The important life lesson

You win some, you lose some. This is important to understand in the sporting world, which so often involves zero-sum games, but it’s also a fact of how the world in general works! A child who plays a lot of sport will learn this valuable lesson early, and this is important. Of course, if your child is some sort of prodigy who never loses at sport, then they’ll have to learn about the art of losing another way! Make sure your kid is playing a sport that will really challenge them. They need to know how to lose gracefully. Of course, they also need to learn how to win gracefully! This is a lesson that frequent sporting will teach, purely because no-one will play with insufferable winners!