When your child is growing up, your role, as a parent, is vital in making him/her excel in different fields such as studies and making friends helping him/her becoming an accomplished human being when he/she grows up. The initiation process begins early in childhood when you start to introduce the child towards new activities. Your child’s success lies in how you make it approach those things at first. This is the make or break point. Any bad move here and the child is going to hold a grudge against that activity forever.
One of the most important activities for children are sports and physical activities as they not only allow the child to keep fit and healthy but teaches them important aspects of the discipline, hard work, motivation and above all, cultivation of skill. Most parents make the mistake of “thrusting” or “forcing” the child into taking up a sport, which makes the child averse towards all kinds of sports. Remember that if a child feels that something is being forced upon him/her, then he/she will come to all facets of that as bad and boring. Every child is unique and has his/her likes, dislikes, and personal inclinations and your job as a parent is to ‘facilitate” that and make your child into a sports loving, physically active and healthy human being. Here is great action plan on how to introduce your child towards sports for the first time and be successful at it:
Take him/her to sports games:
Nothing can beat the atmosphere of a stadium when a much-hyped match is being played. Your child is young and doesn’t know the concept of sports and why people like it and how much excitement goes into seeing and playing it. These are felt and can never be explained by words only so taking your child to a game will be a great idea to let it feel and absorb the energy around it.
Children are always excited to go to new places and love surprises. It would be great if you could take your child to a weekend game for the very first time. The questions will start coming themselves and the interest will be piqued. Be diverse when taking your child to games, make him/her see all kinds of sports and see which one caught his fancy the most.
Your own involvement in sports:
A parent’s behavior towards anything is bound to leave an impact on a child, especially in its early, formation years. No kid will delve into sports if he/she sees a lazy parent who he/she has never seen going off to play or watch a game with enthusiasm. Children love to copy and are great at picking up things that they see in front of them.
Go out and play your favorite sport at least once a week and take your child along with you. If he/she looks interested to call him/her to take a whack at it and don’t forget to appreciate its efforts at all times even when you are correcting or assisting them.
Ask the child what it wants:
Putting your child in a sport just because you like it or his/her friends are at it is not great but it’s counter-productive. If you have given your child enough exposure towards different types of sports then it’s likely that he/she might have developed a liking for a particular sport. Ask him/her on what sport he/she would actually like to get enrolled in or play in a more proper manner and if you get an answer then it’s time to take it further and get it playing that particular sport.
But before you do, make your child understand the value of commitment towards something and that he/she cannot get better in a single day and signing up means he/she is taking a valuable place that could have been used up by another child and he/she has to at least last a season on it before bowing out if there is any disinterest and take up another sport.
The power of motivation:
Excelling in sports is not an easy thing as it requires persistence, hard work and time for development and nurturing of skill but one thing that is a pre-requisite to all of this is motivation. The value and power of motivation is immeasurable towards making your child keep on getting better and better without losing heart and it has to come from you as a parent.
Your job as a parent is to keep motivating your child throughout his journey towards becoming good at it. Make sure that you say good words like “well played” or “that was a great shot” after the game as it helps in boosting the morale for the next day. If your child gets injured while playing sports then your job doesn’t end at only taking it to the nearest urgent care center rather make it a point to help him/her get over it and stay in great spirits. Although, you need to make sure that injury serious and there isn’t any shin splint or an ankle sprain that might become taxing in future. Help in recuperating and getting back to the game. Be good and appreciative and avoid a comparison which is the worst thing you can do to your child.
A parent is the child’s first teacher and the first guide to whom it looks up for advice, motivation, and guidance at all times. Make yourself available and help in making your child get better. Your interest in the child’s early stages will create a lasting impact on the child which he/she will carry well into adulthood and pass on it to his/her children.