Did you know that 70 percent of children lose the love of playing games or sport by 13? However, once you understand the reason, you can guide your child to help them rediscover and maintain their love of the sport and the game.
For The Love Of The Game
In high school, the practice becomes too much and too intense, removing fun from the sport. Kids love to play together. When they can’t play together or alone, they lose interest.
Maybe your child does not want to compete and wants to have fun.
It happened to my brother. He was a rower in high school for four years and got a scholarship to scull at university. And, after the first year, he turned it down because it was not fun anymore.
In high school, he practiced once a day. In university, practice is two times a day; 5 to 7 a.m. and after classes from 3 to 6 p.m. every day. To make the story more interesting, you had to get to the river, which was 30 minutes away.
Oh, and don’t forget balancing the school work, as well as socializing. After a while, everything takes its toll. The excitement fades and becomes belaboring.
Here are some ways to help your child have fun and continue to love the game
Know Your Childs Interest, Qualities, and Skills
By understanding your child’s interests, qualities, and skills, you can guide them towards the best sport (fit). For example, what your child likes to do, what they are interested in, is how you make it fun. This will evoke their passion and love for the game.
Or, maybe, the sport does not match their interest skills and characteristics. For example, perhaps football is too aggressive or too much contact, and they prefer to play soccer. Maybe they are better and more skillful with their feet rather than their hands. Or, possibly have excellent hand-eye coordination for a sport like golf or baseball.
There are so many sports with different skills and characteristics that the connection to the right sport can produce love at first sight.
Keep It Fun
No one likes to do anything that requires stress or tension. Teach your child to have fun by playing with them, in turn, it will teach them to love the game. You don’t always have to be teaching and coaching.
Have Fun, Not Fear
Interest leads to fun, and fun leads to curiosity and passion. And passion leads to loving the game, making it easier for you to motivate your child and your child to be motivated.
Remember, your child will not be interested in advancing their skills and/or knowledge of the game if they don’t like or enjoy the game first.
So, step one, have fun!
Encourage Your Child, Don’t Force
Don’t obligate your child to play a sport they don’t want to play. They already don’t like doing chores, so let your child choose their sport. This way, they have true sincerity and interest.
Do Sports Together
For example, playing catch, you can pick up the intensity and laugh by making your child change directions quickly; to get the ball off the ground or out of the air. Or, if you are kicking a ball, you can challenge their skills the same way, by laughing and having fun making your child move faster and faster in many directions. They will connect the sport or activity with fun and playing and your child will identify the sport and fun with you.
Play with Friends
Kids love to play games, especially with their friends. So having them play and even fantasy play pretending to be their favorite player is a great way to maintain love for the sport and game.
Keep it fun, keep it simple, and mix it up. Being comfortable will spark your child’s interest, passion, and sincerity, which will all fuse and alchemize into love for the game. Once you have love, you can expand your child’s curiosities and horizons from there.
The original article from stack.com
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