Kids Just Want To Have Fun, Parents Too!

 

2009 AAU Junior Olympic Games no medals but still had Fun

 

Kids play sports for fun. Just what is fun for a kid? Well fun for a kid just as an adult vary. Most kids involved in sports also enjoy ,their DS hand held  electronic games. I saw many kids including mine on the airplane to Junior Olympics play games for a couple of hours non stop.That was fun.

We, as parents want our kids to have fun but, we would not want our children to have fun playing electronic games daily for hours at a time. Fun activities simply are not equal in the minds of parents. Left to their own devices a child may well sit around all day and play electronic games which isn’t acceptable or advisable.So we do want kids to have fun just, fun with a purpose and lasting value. Like any activity or item we put our money toward we want Bang For Our Buck.

Our sacrifice of time and money needs to equal a value worthy of the efforts placed forward,thus sports adds that value for the child that participates in sports unlike the “fun” of electronic games. Sports have  the unique ability to engage many different facets of the child physical, psychological and emotional growth.

The parents challenge as the child begins to participate in sport isn’t just how to get them to practice,buy them equipment but how to be patient with development as you explore and discover your child’s unique abilties large and small.

How to find a place for your child to experience success defined by his personal talents,interest and effort. This can never be defined by the crowd watching your child run a race or the unconscious comments of a less than thoughtful coach or parent at practice.  Stats show most kids((99%) will never reach the very high levels of competition with ultimate winning success. Armed with that information if we want our kids to have fun and feel success we as parents have to manage the experience to help our kids and us having fun with youth sports. Yes us too!

 Why do we often think that our kids having fun participating in sport shouldn’t provide fun for us. Well it should and if it isn’t you are missing out on probably  one of the greatest  things that causes lasting  family memories and life lesson opportunities in raising kids.

As I said in a recent post “When I was a kid and first expressed the desire to run track my mom totally didn’t want me to do it. All the reasons were resonable  to hot, to long,to much time. She made the effort because my dad said it would be good for me and sure enough in a very short time she became a great track mom and very enthusiastic about not just me but my sisters participating. She prepared great lunches and lots of encouragement in the stands. None of us every became Olympic medalist but we did have a great time and it provided us a great framework for many things that have help shape my adult life. Her example truly has helped me in my own TrackMom experience. So you see your participation can help your grand children’s too!”

 

 Find a way to enjoy the journey your kids are taking and create rituals( Food is my hting at a meet it makes the day so much more enjoyable) Learn the sport so they see you are vested not just along cause. Their memories can be of much more than winning or losing it will be of family and friend time spend in a wholesome environment sharing in a sport we love.

Related posts:

1. How Can Sports Parents Encourage Their Kids?
2. Youth Sports A Good Thing For Kids and Parents
3. Parents Perspective…..They Write Their Feelings About Their Kids And Track
4. Fun Track Quotes
5. Training Through Fun