Sports are important for teaching teamwork and instilling a sense of personal pride and accomplishment! Not every sport is for every kid, though, so you have to find the right one for your child.
My daughter started begging for a basketball goal when she was four. We bought her a full sized one, and she learned how to shoot baskets! When the church in the center of town sent out flyers announcing a basketball series, she signed up at age seven.
Wow! The church was great. They recognized that the kids were little, and instead of focusing on fierce competition like the school teams did, they really worked on teamwork. They didn’t formally keep score, but of course we parents did. (My little girl’s team was made up of some of the very smallest kids, and they developed such a solid team that they won every single game that year!)
It really helped her make friends and did a great job on teaching her she had to step back and not always be the center of attention.
My son was five, and very unsure of himself. I didn’t feel right throwing him out on the soccer field, where I was sure he’d get trampled! The bowling alley had just started a league for kids as small as four, so we signed him up.
He got better then me! You never saw such a little kid take to something like my boy did to bowling. He soon decided he didn’t need bumper rails, and developed a solid skim down the middle that resulted in a strike on more than one occasion!
At the end of the season, he had two patches and a trophy for his scores and for the most improvement in a young bowler. He also had his very own ball and bag. It was a huge confidence builder for him!
Last year the bowling alley was remodeling, so we didn’t do as much bowling… and my daughter broke her finger at the third basketball practice and was out for the season. We are looking forward to this fall, though - both of our kids have found the best sport for their personality!
My little girl plays the soccor, and I think it is so very competitive, but she loves it. The other parents yell a lot, but the coach is very good about saying it is only a game, and playinig is the important, not always winning.