If you have young children, at some point you’ve probably wondered what sport or activity you should involve them in. Sometimes the natural instinct is to let them decide. After all, giving your child some sense of control and autonomy in decision-making is a good thing. But there can be drawbacks to that approach.
Young children who have never played a sport will almost certainly be nervous. That nervousness stems from the fear of failure and the pressure to be able to perform the tasks. Some sports are more difficult for young kids to learn, whether it’s because the rules are complex, the risk of injury is high, or because the motor skills required are too advanced. So while allowing your child to make the decision about which sport to play has its benefits, a better approach is to offer a list of pre-approved sports to your child and let them pick from there.
The First Rule
As a parent, your main goal for your child’s first experience in sports should be that they have fun – that is all. If you’re asking, “But what about winning?” – I’m talking to you here. Winning doesn’t matter at this age. I’m not saying it isn’t good to keep score and have a clear winning team at the end of the game. Sports are a great way to teach children the value of hard work and practice, and also a great way to teach that you cannot always win. So I am not advocating for the “everyone won the game” approach. But you should never put pressure on your child to win or perform. If they win the game, congratulate them. If they lose, tell them it’s ok.
Putting pressure on kids to perform in sports at an early age does nothing but create stress and tension in their minds, and if done excessively, can lead them to believe their sense of worth is tied to their sports performances. This is a dangerous slope, because very few people have the ultimate success in sports – professional stardom. So in the end, most people “fail”. I use quotations around the word fail because if a child is led to believe that their entire self-worth is built around sports success, they will feel like a failure if they don’t reach the pinnacle of sports.
In summary, teach them to work hard and that rewards will come if they do. But also, make sure they know that sports are not the be-all end-all in their life, and that they are worth so much more than their stats or points on a scorecard.
Sports To Consider
When picking a list of sports to present to your young child, choose those that have simple rule-sets and don’t require a high level of coordination to perform the basic tasks. You should also consider safety, avoiding sports that present a higher risk of injury. Finally, consider the amount of structure involved in the sport. According this article on care.com, choosing a sport that is too organized can cause a child to lose interest. Children have short attention spans, so sports that involve a lot of organization may not be best.
Gymnastics
One of the best early sports is gymnastics. Children love to climb, roll, crawl, and jump – all things they’ll experience in a toddler gymnastics program. There are also very few organized rules in toddler gymnastics, making it easier for your child to stay focused on the tasks at hand.
Soccer
Soccer is a great choice because of the rule structure and activity level. There is very little standing around in soccer, which will keep your child active for the entirety of the game. Also, the rules are pretty straightforward in pee-wee soccer – just kick the ball toward your goal and don’t use your hands.
Karate
Many parents may shy away from introducing their kids to karate for fear of inspiring violence. But karate teaches the exact opposite of violence and is a great way to actually deter your child from hitting others during temper tantrums. Karate teaches self-defense and emotional control, and is a very simple sport for toddlers to grasp. Bonus – they’ll love the outfit too.
Swimming
Most kids love to swim, so getting them into swimming lessons at an early age is not only something they’ll enjoy, it’s a great way to ensure their safety at the pool. Swimming lessons for toddlers are usually one-on-one with the instructor, giving the attention spotlight to your child the whole time. It promotes both upper and lower body strengthening and coordination and is an activity that most kids pick up very quickly – giving them quick rewards and motivation to keep going.
Sports to Wait On
Not all sports are created equal. Some require too much coordination or strength for toddlers. Not that it would be terrible to involve your toddler in these sports, but sometimes it can lead to frustration and demotivation. It may be better to wait until your child is a bit older to start with the list below.
T-Ball
While T-ball is a great sport for building hand-eye coordination and motor skills, it often leads to frustration amongst toddlers due to its complex rule structure and difficult physical requirements. For example, few toddlers can throw a ball more than a few feet, making it difficult for them to complete a toss to a teammate. They also may struggle with the rules of the game, not understanding why they were called “out” on the bases and told to sit back in the dugout. Speaking of the dugout, there is a lot of downtime for the players who aren’t at-bat or on the bases, making the attention span situation a potential problem.
Football
One of the most complex rule structures exists in football. Toddlers may struggle to understand their role on the field – whether they should block, run, or tackle. They also may not understand why they don’t get the ball, as not every player on the team gets to touch the ball. And while pee-wee football is generally safe because the kids aren’t quite strong enough to seriously hurt each other, it is still a high-contact sport. So if you child isn’t used to rough-housing, it may come as a shock when they get knocked down the first several times.
Basketball
Basketball is a wonderful sport, but for toddlers, it requires a bit too much strength and coordination to be able to perform the basic tasks. First, most toddlers can’t shoot a basketball high enough to reach even the lowest goals from more than a few feet away. But more importantly, very few toddlers have the coordination to dribble a ball under control. Thus, basketball for toddlers tends to not look like basketball at all, with lots of carrying the ball and fighting for it on the floor like a fumble in football. Avoid this one till they’re older.
Tennis
We were kind of on the fence about this one because tennis is a sport that young children can play and have success at an early age. The rules aren’t extremely complicated and there is very little down-time. The reason we put it on the “wait” list is simply because of the coordination aspect. In toddler tennis, the only real goal is to hit the ball over the net. The problem is that there is too high of a failure rate, over and over, and that tends to discourage young children quickly. If your child is interested in tennis, it is best to wait a little longer until they can repeatedly hit the ball over the net and get that sense of satisfaction.
Conclusion
To wrap it up, choose sports for young children that can keep them engaged the whole time, don’t require complex rules, and don’t require skillsets that they are physically not capable of having. If you do that, your child will feel satisfaction, a sense of teamwork, and be motivated to continue.
