I have not yet taken the plunge into signing any of the kids up for extra curricular activities. We do AWANA at our church during the school year but that's it so far. No athletics. I fear it taking over our week and that once we start we can't stop. We can't just say the next year "Oh no, you can't play ball this year." I love having a somewhat free schedule, and being able to choose our activities as a family. There is soo much we love to do (see last post!)
But I'm beginning to wonder if it's approaching time. In fact as I'm typing this I'm remembering another post about this and games on the Sabbath.
I was thinking soccer for Eli and gymnastics for Hannah.
And then I had another thought about that...
Is there danger is putting kids in sports where weight could be a controlling issue later down the road?? Gymnastics and wrestling are two specific sports that come to mind. You have to fall into a certain weight bracket in order to compete at that level, and it leads to unhealthy eating habits and damages your perspective on body image. Should I avoid this area altogether??
Thoughts...???
3 comments:
As someone who doesn't put her kid in much either, I would say that whatever kids show interest in, is the way to go. (And as finances permit). I want my kids to THRIVE in an activity not just do something because they are "suppose to". V has done dance class and cheerleading bcs she asked. L & C haven't been in anything - and I asked Lance about soccer and basketball but he didn't want to. For the 1st time starting this month, we all start swim lessons for the summer. That'll be fun cause they MUST learn to swim :o)
Both the boys and I have loved just about every minute of the sports teams we've been on (minus the having to sit and watch and not participate if it's not your team thing - which I feel is good for them to learn to support each other). In signing them up, I went into it knowing that we may miss a lesson or two if something came up, but also tried to plan around them a bit too. It was a GREAT way for the kids to learn team spirit - rooting for the team and not just themselves, a good way to learn that we don't always win (Isaiah especially has a hard time losing at just about everything!), and a way for them to socialize with other kids their age - which I love since we aren't in daycare and just part time preschool. And it was also nice to have somewhere to go and look forward to for everyone each week!
I also think that learning at a very young age that being active and exercising is a VERY important part of life. Getting into the routine of exercise even at 3 is good for my kids! I also agree that the weight thing could become a problem if you are involved in sports that require a certain, but I just think - maybe without the encouragement to exercise the problem of being overweight could become a problem too.
I'd definitely recommend the extras! We have done soccer, basketball, swimming lessons and this summer is t-ball.
Caleb did tball before we moved and really enjoyed it. Then we moved and b/c of his late birthday he was in the category to choose tball or machine pitch. He didn't want to do machine pitch so he signed up for tball. We were all disappointed in it because of the coaches and the whole format was different than in our old city. So it wasn't what we expected.
This year we asked him about signing up and he didn't want to. We didn't force him too. When his friends started playing he would play out in the yard with Daddy. He chose to do art lessons once a week instead. That was fine with me.
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