THIS SATURDAY WE BROADCAST LIVE FOR WRFD FAMILY DAY AT SPORTS OHIO IN DUBLIN, OHIO.
I wish there was a Sports Ohio near me when I was growing up! This place is an athletic kid’s wonderland. There is SO much to do. Check this out… I’m gonna list the sports you can play at this multi-plex. Ready?
- Baseball
- Basketball
- Batting cages
- Dodgeball
- Field Hockey
- Flag football
- Go Karts
- Golf
- LaCrosse
- Miniature golf
- Soccer
- Softball
- Tee Ball
- & Volleyball
Now that’s a lot to do! Any chance your kid will get bored here?!
Are you a “One Sport Family”? You know, where you believe your child should only participate in one sport at a time? A study done by America Sports Data Inc. found that, in youth organized sports, 69% of all parents want their children to play only one sport. If the child is between six and eight years old, 79% of those parents want their child to play only one sport. Of all the sports organization in 2004, 44% of the children stated they only wanted to play one sport. Somehow it seems like kids gravitate to one or more sports over time, and they and mummy and daddy go crazy trying to coordinate the itineraries!
I think we can all agree that there are two extremes we need to avoid when it comes to our kids and sports – ALL or NOTHING. ALL is when we try to get our kids signed up for every possible sport so they can explore and develop all potential areas of their gifting. NOTHING is when we discourage our kids from getting too involved because, well let’s face it – sports are really inconvenient, time consuming, and really expensive!! When we make our decisions about children’s sports participation for our own selfish or personal reasons, and NOT for the kid’s development, we’re probably doing them a disservice.
There are pleanty of good reasons to involve our kids in team sports. Sports help children develop physical skills, get exercise, make friends, have fun, learn to play as a member of a team, learn to play fair, and improve self-esteem.
It is important to remember that the attitudes and behavior taught to children in sports carry over to adult life. Parents should take an active role in helping their child develop good sportsmanship. To help your child get the most out of sports, you need to be actively involved. This includes:
- providing emotional support and positive feedback,
- attending some games and talking about them afterward,
- having realistic expectations for your child,
- learning about the sport and supporting your child’s involvement,
- helping your child talk with you about their experiences with the coach and other team members,
- helping your child handle disappointments and losing, and
- modeling respectful spectator behavior.
TOP TEN LOUSY reasons have your child play sports:
10. So you can avoid doing yardwork
9. So you can finally yell at children in public
8. You can’t find any other use for your grandfather’s baseball glove circa 1952
7. Because the neighborhood kids won’t play tackle football with you anymore because they’ve lost too many teeth
6. To test your health insurances’ orthopedic coverage
5. So you can live out your fantasy childhood through Jr.
4. To have an excuse to by the Cadillac of folding chairs
3. So you can NOT go to their games, just like your parents didn’t
2. Because your kid is artsy and you just can’t deal with that
1. So the kid can earn a full ride at a D1 university!
Do you think kids are on overload these days? Do you think they have too many activities going on? Or do you think that it’s just about right? Or maybe even not enough? I think you probably have some ideas of your own. Got an opinion? Weigh on in with your comments.