Inspired by many - How young is too young?

[Bob Slydell]

I have made general statements in regards to the overall situation and have not pointed fingers at anyone. Quite frankly, if someone was pushing their child to extremes I doubt that that would admit so here.

My thought is that very young children (under the age of 5 - typically) are not physically or emotionally prepared for organized sports/activities which involve a great deal of time and effort. Young children do not have the coordination/physical and/or emotional capabilites to be involved in many things that some parents have them involved in. It causes frustration and can promote lack of self-confidence in many children. I agree that some children can certainly grow and develop self-confidence from the same activities. I personally think that we as a society are pushing our children into growing up way to fast in general. Organized sports/activities is just one example of the overall problem, IMHO.

Nobody's saying you're pointing fingers.

I still disagree with your overall sentiment, though. Yes, I agree that it can be harmful to push young children to do more than they're ready to do, but again, if you take a good look at most youth sports programs you'll see that for the first couple years of sports, there's very little focus put on the competitive aspect and more focus on learning the sport and having fun. The time spent in most of these activities is also tailored to the age groups as well. My 5 year old's soccer team, for example, plays once a week for one hour. There's no practices except for the first half hour of each week's game. Even swimming classes start with shorter classes at preschool age and increase in length as the child gets older (and thus has more attention span).

 

[pixiemomma]

I'm having a hard time thinking that having my 3 year old run around a soccer field and kick at a ball is going to hurt him physically or emotionally??

Seriously, we're not talking serious team competition at this age -- it's all about fun and teaching the fundamentals. We don't even keep score or have any records.

The Socceroo age is the best. I don't think they keep score for the older kids in our soccer rec league either. (At least they don't for the under 8 team.)

 

[momof2inPA]

I feel sorry for the kids who never get to participate in the extra-curricular activities when they want to. So many parents are too busy with work, going to the gym, and their own stuff to bother to take their kids to boyscouts, soccer, or gymnastics classes. I have seen kids ask and be told "no" for years, while so many of their friends are off having these experiences. Sometimes, I think it's selfishness on the parents' part.

 

[nwdisgal]

Thanks for the suggestion but his only real fear in life is water. He does ok in kiddie pools but swimming totally terrifies him. Maybe someday.


Personally, I do think 5/6 is a good age to start getting involved in these things. I think that competiton sports require a certain level of maturity that extremely young children haven't yet reached. I just think that kids overall are being pressured to succeed at younger and younger ages. So much competiton has been placed in their lives that many kids treat every thing as a competiton and have lost sight of the "fun" aspect of it.

Hang in there on the swimming.... My ASD son didn't like swimming for a long time - I think sensory issues had an influence on this and he avoided water at all costs. We live in a place that is surrounded by water, so we finally made him take lessons (as a matter of survival). It was a long, difficult process for him, but he now enjoys swimming and actually competes on a mainstream swim team.

I agree with you. I think that you should put your kids in competitive sports when you feel ready to as their parent, and not feel pressured to put them in at a young age. Kids are going to naturally excel at certain sports or hobbies in their lives, and as they get older they will initiate activities based on interest.

I had my DD in activities from a young age - but they were more of my chosing rather than hers. Now, thinking back to it, I feel it was too young. As she became older she started initiating around her own sports interests and has done well with it. Also, my niece who is a top college level women's basketball player started that activity later in life as well. She was in her late childhood before she really got into the basketball scene. Provided, once she expressed a strong interest in the sport, her parents helped move her along with teams, training etc. The fact that she is over 6 ' tall and physically has a very athletic build helped my niece significantly. I think people need to be realistic about the physical requirements - height, weight, build etc that will affect a child's performance in certain sports as they progress down the road.