Children and Sport — When Can You Enroll Your Child in Sports?

The natural desire of every parent is to raise a strong and healthy child. It is clear that sport can help your child to be healthy. But it is not often we can get a definite answer to such questions as, what is the best age for a child and when they can participate in sports activities.

Of course, you need to approach each case individually. In this matter a child's gender is very important, also the level of the child's development, and finally, whether they have a predisposition to do any of the sports activities. You should also take into account the feelings of the child. A child should be willing to do exercises, otherwise it will affect their mental condition negatively. If parents do not take into account the views of a child they should expect a rapid loss of the child's interest in any sports. It is likely that after the first negative experience with sports, the child completely loses the willingness to engage. To avoid such cases, parents should seriously think about the time when to enroll their child in extracurricular activities.

Assessment of physical development of a child

The first important step is a consultation with a doctor. You shouldn't neglect this advice, because at stake is the health of a child, and even their life. The doctor will examine the child and find if there are any contraindications and also assess the level of the child's physical development. Next, try to talk with the parents whose children are already enrolled in some sports classes. Find out at what age their children began to attend sports training, and whether there are any additional problems.

Choosing the type of sport activity in accordance with the age of a child

As it was mentioned above, the choice of extra-curricular activities should take into account the child's age. However, every year new progressive exercise programs appear; therefore, the rules of sport are rejuvenated. Good examples of these programs are such sports activities as modern rhythmic gymnastics, figure skating, synchronized swimming and others. Even three-year-old children can start practicing in these sports activities, because the younger the child is the more they can work out. There are even some cases when professional trainers personally come to the kindergarten to identify talented children.

When the girl reaches the age of four years she can begin to attend classes of artistic or rhythmic gymnastics. And at this age girls also can start to learn how to swim. At the same time, if after the first year of training the girl is probably floating in water, it is possible that she will be qualified to synchronized swimming. Girls of eight or ten years old can already take part in the worldwide championships in this field. At the age of six, if the child does not have any contraindications, you can go ahead and enroll your child in a class of figure skating.

Seven-year-old children can start to do such sport activities as artistic gymnastics, sport dance and table tennis.

Boys of eight or nine years old can start to learn martial arts. You should approach your child very carefully when it comes to weightlifting. Although formally the child can start this sport at the age of 10, it will be better to do it a little bit later. The body of the child is not yet fully developed at this age, and such exercises in the gym can significantly slow their growth.

Let us examine more details of some kinds of sports. The classes of martial arts are very good for developing flexibility, coordination, dexterity and discipline in children, and they are recommended both for boys and for girls. Some types of fights definitely are not suitable for young athletes. For example, boxing — which is very conducive to injuries and is a common cause of epilepsy. Much safer are karate, judo, aikido or wushu — basically a five-year-old child can participate in these activities.

Gymnastics — both artistic and rhythmic — are very demanding kinds of sport. Heavy loads often lead to sprains, cause back pain. Of course, while doing such sport they can develop their flexibility, grace and beauty but is it worth such efforts? If it is hard for your children, you can enroll them in dance classes or ballet, where there are all these same features, but at a lesser intensity. To achieve mastery in this sport, your child should start practicing from the age of five. Children that begin to cultivate ballet or dance later also are not condemned to fail.

Perhaps no other sport can be so safe and at the same time so useful for all ages as swimming. It helps to develop the right stature and improves body condition. You can start swimming classes with your child as early as the age of three months, because there are a lot of pools conducting special courses for babies. The only thing that can bring some concerns to parents of girls is the possibility of the emergence of broad shoulders. However, this can happen only with professional swimmers, but for those who want to swim twice a week, it will not cause such changes.

It doesn't matter if it is a room for a boy, a girl or both siblings — you should think about organizing a space for active entertainment. The solution can be the metal gymnastic wall bar in the child's room.