Everyone Talks about how important exercise and sport is for our children — including us. Of Course, with the growing rate of obesity, it is an undeniable truth that our kids’ health and fitness should be top priority.
Sure, we are all aware that active children are more likely to become active adults. But sport is a great deal more than only a means to an end in trying to keep children physically fit.
Studies indicate that games may also have a massive effect on a child’s social and emotional well-being, and may even teach them some extremely valuable life skills. Here’s a rundown of sport’s top 10 psychological and social benefits for children.
1. Camaraderie
Joining a Sports team provides kids a feeling of belonging and the chance to make new friends. Some might even become friends for life!
Getting involved in a game also gives children another social circle beyond school. With about one in four pupils (27 percent) reporting being bullied At school, joining a sports team might be a much needed source of social support.
2. Learning it’s OK to lose
Kids learn to lose through sport, and they even learn to do it graciously. Bad sportsmanship is an ugly thing, nobody likes a sore loser.
Of Course, there is no harm in being competitive and expressing frustration in a non-aggressive method. However, losing with integrity to a much better opponent is a good deal more honourable than throwing tantrums as frequently exhibited by certain young Australian tennis players.
3. Respecting authority
Does your child need the occasional additional dose of discipline? Sign them up for a game.
Following set rules, taking management and accepting conclusions is a huge part of playing competitive sport. And gamers are often penalised for poor behaviour. Your child knows better than to turn up to practice without their basketball shorts, and soon enough they’ll think twice about bending the school uniform rules as well.
With normal interaction with coaches, referees and other players, respecting their elders and listening to their peers is an important ability kids can take in the pitch or court.
4. Controlling emotions
As kids grow up, we expect them to learn how to control their emotions, particularly the negative ones. In sport, Emotions can run high and learning how to channel them the perfect way can be hard for youngsters.
A good coach understands that negative emotional stress hurts operation. However, once this bit of wisdom is treated, your kid will be better equipped to undertake a wide selection of other life challenges, like agreeing to find a year 10 tutor.
5. Self-esteem
Many studies suggest that Sport and other physical activities can result in the growth of self-esteem in children. A pat on the shoulder, a high-five from a friend, or a handshake with an opponent at the end of a game (even when they lost), is all character building for your little one.
The difficulty however, is not to let their self-esteem be differentiated by losing or winning, instead, to concentrate on their effort and enjoyment of the game.Mastering mindset and building self-esteem in children stems from the Supportive relationships of teammates and coaches, plus encouragement from parents.
So next time your child plays a game — of anything — ask “how it did it go?” Vs “did you win?”
Or better still, “did you like it?”
Confidence and self-esteem built in sports, not only allows them to succeed in the sporting world, but their high spirits will reduce their stress and enable them to study better. Before you know it, your child will start understanding maths better and you’ll find you may need to let your math tutor go as your child excels beyond their peers.
6. Patience
Unless your child is extremely athletically talented, then training will play a huge part in whatever sport or activity they are involved in. And if practice makes perfect, then perfect takes patience.
Of course, we should not encourage our children to aspire to ‘ideal’ but if the message is: “if you wish to get better at something, it is going to take time” then this is definitely a worthwhile lesson for children to learn.
7. Dedication
Similar to patience, the subject of training and the dedication needed to follow a game is a feature transferrable to many different facets of life.
It’s no coincidence that participation in sport is linked to greater academic achievement in college. If your kids put time and effort into getting better at something, and see the results; maybe — just maybe — they will put the same amount of dedication in their studie
8. Working together
“There’s No I in team”
“Teamwork makes the dream work.”
Or whatever other clichéd word coaches may inform their team. It means nothing unless the group members believe in too.
A team can’t succeed without working together, no matter how great the individual players are. The kids are taught to work together on every aspect of the game, even when it comes to designing their custom basketball jerseys.
Communication is learning and key to be a part of a group is synonymous with learning to appreciate the effectiveness of teamwork, which is a useful Lesson for children to carry into adulthood and their future careers.
9. Less selfish
Closely tied to teamwork, sports (especially team sports) are an excellent platform to teach children to be less selfish.
In sport, Kids will need to consider what’s best for the group. Not themselves. You see it often in soccer. Players have the chance to pass to your teammate, but rather decide to go for glory themselves. Shoot for target, and miss. Egos are not great for team morale or performance.
10. Resilience
Sport can be a bit of an emotional rollercoaster. One study discovered that Yyungsters that are highly involved in sport are more ’emotionally resilient’.
This Is not surprising when sport teaches children to pick themselves up after a hard tackle, or to hold their head high after losing badly, then get right back out there the next week. Sport is about bouncing back, and learning from errors. The earlier children can learn these skills, the better.
Overall, the psychological and social advantages of playing game can help children become well-rounded, mature adults. So when it is a team sport or an individual sport such as tennis, what your children can learn goes beyond the physical.
But don’t worry if your child isn’t sporty or interested in a specific sport. There are Loads of different activities (i.e. Kids Club), where children can develop the above skills and attributes. All of which certainly have a positive influence on the adult they become.