Kids Just Think They Are Having Fun

Love to have a child who is fair, confident, and doing well academically at school? Of course you do; it's probably at the top of a parent's priorities for how they want their child to be. What if you could achieve this fairly easily while also decreasing their likelihood of drug use and disease in the future? Interested? Well, it's easy, and kids just think they are having FUN!

The answer: enroll them in a team sport. Kids love sports and do it because it's fun, but there is a whole string of benefits that sports teach, instill, and develop in kids without their or your knowledge. Sports make kids thrive!

With a little encouragement, kids will leave the "screen" behind and pick up a football or soccer ball instead. One of the most important lessons kids learn from sports is to play fair. According to the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, sports do teach this, particularly if parents are actively involved in the sport. You can do this too by going to some games, talking about them afterwards, helping your child handle disappointments, and modelling respectful, good sports behaviour.

Some benefits of sports are easy to see, like coordination and playing in a team, but research shows that strategic thinking and even math skills are learned by playing sports. Kids who play sports are less stressed as physical activity is a release for negative emotions.

Now just for girls - research has found that girls who play sports are more likely to think positively about their body, be more confident, and not be overweight. Girls are also, interestingly enough, less likely to become pregnant.

Finally, kids develop discipline - they learn to set goals, work to achieve them, and then learn that by working hard they can accomplish the things they really want in their lives. As a parent, this string of benefits is hard to dismiss. To your kid, they are just having FUN.

Nicole Pierotti

Originally Published: June 12, 2013

Last Edited: May 17, 2023