Kids and activities

[LaMexicana]

I started playing softball my 7th grade and the only reason I really joined was because I wanted to; my parents didn't really push me into anything. Now I look back and wish my parents would have stuck me in something physical much sooner. As a grown up now, I see the benefits of starting kids on activities at a young age. It teaches discipline, team work and how important excercise is.

I personally love being in shape and I love being active. My daughter just turned 4 and I'm wondering at what age would it be appropriate to stick her in something. She's very artistic. She loves to sing, dance, draw and play instruments. I'm a jock so I would love for her to play volleyball just like me. But I'd settle for gymnastics, softball, running, weight lifting...whatever! My mom thinks my nephew (he's 5) is too young for extra curricular activities...I disagree. Better than sitting at home and watching a bunch of crap on TV! I'm thinking one artistic class and one physical class or do one that includes both like ballet. Or maybe starting out with one and later moving on to another.

Opinions?

 

[Nikki]

My parents were the same way...never pushed me into anything. Now I wish they HAD pushed me into a few more things because I feel like I have no talent whatsover! :-?

My daughters are now 9 and 10. They have taken ballet, tap, gymnastics, karate, softball, soccer, softball, cheerleading and piano. We have come to the conclusion that the only thing that my 9 year old likes is cheerleading. My 10 year old loves cheerleading, piano and gymnastics. She wants to try softball again, but I'm hesitant because I remember when she was in it at age 5 and all she did was whine and complain on the field that it was "too hot", "too cold", "she was too tired",etc. I told her that if she gave me $45, then she could quit since that's what I paid. I'll never forget during one game when the head coach (I was assistant coach) told her to pay attention, my dd yelled really loud and happily "WHEN I GIVE MY MOMMY $45, I GET TO QUIT!!!". :

Anyways, I'm glad that I've been able to put my children in activities and I think they appreciate it also.

 

[LaMexicana]

haha that is hilarious!

Well, good, I'm glad you feel happy in doing so. I'm an active person so if I could get my daughter to do stuff outside the house, it would be good for her and me too. I think that's the best way to bring out a talent in a child. The earlier they start, the more time they have to practice in order to be succesful in the future.

 

[micaela]

I put my daughter in ice skating when she was 3 years old. it took her a while to get the hang of it and she was frusterated alot of the time trying to keep her balance. now shes 4 years old and she loves to be out there on the ice. she still falls down sometimes but she just gets back up and goes at it again, now without crying. i've noticed that putting her in ice skating really has boosted her confidence. she loves showing off gliding around while mommy cheers her on!

 

[heather]

I was never allowed to join in sports mostly because my mom couldn't afford it. I also went to a private school and preschool that did not have any sports besides basketball. And in order to be involved, you had to be in 5th grade. Legally, she could have put in public school activities, but I don't think that she knew that. Now, I'm not very active...and no mater how hard I try, I can't seem to become more active. My husband, on the other hand, was involved in baseball, swimming, karate, and football. He goes to the gym 3 days a week and enjoys being active. We've decided to put our children (when the Lord blesses us) in extra-curricular activities. It builds teamwork, confidence, and self-esteem.

 

[Timf]

Physical exercise is not just restricted to consumer selected activities and classes. Children can benefit helping an elderly woman in their church put up storm windows and rake leaves. They can help someone move their things to a new apartment or home. They can help weed a garden. They can just plain walk.

Work builds character and the flesh rebels against it. Consumer exercise and sport often build an unhealthy preoccupation with self. Work done out of love for the brethren can be a demonstration to the world of the love of Jesus.

John 13:35
By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.

 

[heather]

My husband and I spend time with another Christian family occasionally. They have a three year old that can swim for hours on end and rides a bike without training wheels. I wouldn't have believed it except that I took him swimming one night. This ability (and activity) comes from family time spent together.

 

[LaMexicana]

I think any type of physical activity is beneficial to children. Whether it's helping around the neighborhood or doing gymnastics.

I think when people think of sticking kids in activities, especially sports, they get this idea that the parents are going to push to hard and the kids are going to end up traumatized and weird and uber comeptitive.

I disagree with that mentality, there definitely needs to be a balance but there are some talented (Christian I might add) folks out there. Whether it's sports or playing the piano, kids have talents and I don't find anything wrong in helping those talents grow.

 

[Amielou]

i think an out of school hours activity can be great for kiddies to learn new people skills, stretch their comfort zones, make new friends, build confidence, learn new skills and have heaps of fun while getting healthy... just be careful not to over-schedule your children, as i have seen the detrimental effects this can have on a stressed out tuckered out little person (i work in the childcare and children's entertainment field) one activity a week and maybe 2 if they don't seem to be getting too tired from it should be okay, just make sure they're still getting down time to just play and chill out and be a kiddy, after all their childhood is only so short

you said she likes music and dancing, maybe a dance class would suit her?? a good way is to try her in 2 or 3 different things (lots of places will let you sit in on a class or two before deciding) and see what she is most interested in, that way she does something great and it's not something you chose for her.

i agree with previous posters about helping people in the family and the community being a great thing to do too. it's a wonderful way to teach children to be Christ like and to serve others, i think it is good for a child to participate ion group activities too, it teaches team spirit and cooperation and a whole lot of other skills

 

[stovebolts]

I'm laughing because my Son who is now 9, almost 10 has been in wrestling going on his third year now and I was looking for the right forum to post this

Wrestling is a tough sport, and he's been hurt physically a few times pretty bad, but emotionally, he's growing leaps and bounds!

He just had a tournament this Sunday where he came in first place! And he earned it! The kid he wrestled is a kid from our own team, so they spar a lot in practice and Jace usually ends up getting hurt, and when he found out they were wrestling for first place (This is the second time they have wrestled for first) he wanted to forfeit the match.

But I'm so proud of my son! My wife later asked him if he said a prayer before going in for the match, and he said that he prayed for courage to overcome his fear. BTW, he won the match by two points from a reversal in the final seconds of the final match!

Just because I'm so proud, here is a picture of him wrestling another kid from Two weeks ago. He got the pin in 26 seconds
[attachment=0:1m4v6k86]Pin.jpg[/attachment:1m4v6k86]

 

[LaMexicana]

haha! That's so awesome! Good for him

I'm very athletic and active and see the benefits of it and so I do plan on pushing my daughter (not hard, just a little shove) into doing the same. But she already shows interest in stretching with me and she jumps around when I play volleyball and tells me she's exercising. It's pretty funny actually.

But we don't use "bad" words like fat or skinny or anything like that. We use words like strong and healthy and she understand that exercise does that along with eating healthy food. With today's obesity epidemic, I think it's super important to teach kids the importance of exercise and eating well.

 

[stovebolts]

Sounds like your teaching your daughter a very healthy lifestyle!

It's almost funny, I was extremely athletic during my youth, though I didn't participate in many sports. My wife dated a guy who played hockey when she was in H.S., so when she had children, she put them in hockey. My step son started playing when he was like 5 years old, and is now 23 and still loves the sport and plays on an adult league.

Our Son (the wrestler) has played baseball and taken some karate, but wrestling has become his passion, so I think he's going to stick with it. He's asked about playing hockey, and after putting one son through hockey, well, that was enough

As far as the words fat and skinny, I always used the word thin . My wife is extremely conscious of our diets and promotes a lot of fruits and veggies, but exercise is very important, especially at such a young age, which is why we regulate our son's tv and computer time or else he would sit in front of both all day.

How old is your daughter?

 

[LaMexicana]

Sounds like your teaching your daughter a very healthy lifestyle!

It's almost funny, I was extremely athletic during my youth, though I didn't participate in many sports. My wife dated a guy who played hockey when she was in H.S., so when she had children, she put them in hockey. My step son started playing when he was like 5 years old, and is now 23 and still loves the sport and plays on an adult league.

Our Son (the wrestler) has played baseball and taken some karate, but wrestling has become his passion, so I think he's going to stick with it. He's asked about playing hockey, and after putting one son through hockey, well, that was enough

As far as the words fat and skinny, I always used the word thin . My wife is extremely conscious of our diets and promotes a lot of fruits and veggies, but exercise is very important, especially at such a young age, which is why we regulate our son's tv and computer time or else he would sit in front of both all day.

How old is your daughter?

She's 4, going to be 5 in September. I think it's funny that she knows when I'm going to work out. As soon as I start putting on my running shoes she'll ask me if I'm going "to do work out"

She actually a really good eater and people always ask me how I got her to eat her veggies (she loves spinach, broccoli, cauliflower, peas, corn...name it and she likes it except tomatoes...no tomatoes!) And I just tell people I don't give her a choice. You either eat it or you can starve...that's my motto. So it's pretty easy to eat healthy when she's joining me.

I've always done sports (still play volleyball in leagues and tournaments) so she's grown up with it. But I've really started teaching myself about muscles and nutrition in the past couple years so I just pass on whatever I know when she asks. She even knows what whey protein does (she tells me she's going to drink it when she gets older so she can get strong)

So yeah, I think kids should learn the whole deal about muscles and nutrition along with getting involved in physical activities. There was one point in time (which I'm sure still happens) where moms were teaching their daughter to be "skinny" which led to horrible eating habits. I think nowadays we need to teach them that strong bodies are the way to go. Strong inside and out.

 

[stovebolts]

Almost five is a good age! Your doing her good by instilling a healthy lifestyle and a Godly outlook at her present age. She's like a little sponge, just soaking up everything you do, and everything you say. She's watching you as you and listening, and then watching how you live your prayers out.

My son and stepdaughter are pretty healthy eaters with the exception of a few food items, like Brussel sprouts :naughty ewww! I can't really fault them :rolling

That's pretty cool that your still doing sports! My son for some odd reason has wanted a weight set for the past few years... I have no idea where he got that idea from, but my wife doesn't think he's big enough for a set of weights. I dunno, I think he'd be fine

One of the things I was huge into as a teen was running and weight lifting, which is were I became interested in nutrition and muscle. I was always into strength training, and never really focused on bulk size. I'm thinking that this year I'm going to take up running again, and it would be nice to do it with my son ;)

 

[LaMexicana]

Almost five is a good age! Your doing her good by instilling a healthy lifestyle and a Godly outlook at her present age. She's like a little sponge, just soaking up everything you do, and everything you say. She's watching you as you and listening, and then watching how you live your prayers out.

My son and stepdaughter are pretty healthy eaters with the exception of a few food items, like Brussel sprouts :naughty ewww! I can't really fault them :rolling

That's pretty cool that your still doing sports! My son for some odd reason has wanted a weight set for the past few years... I have no idea where he got that idea from, but my wife doesn't think he's big enough for a set of weights. I dunno, I think he'd be fine

One of the things I was huge into as a teen was running and weight lifting, which is were I became interested in nutrition and muscle. I was always into strength training, and never really focused on bulk size. I'm thinking that this year I'm going to take up running again, and it would be nice to do it with my son ;)

As long as it's not heavy lifting it should be fine. Heavy lifting does stunt growth but light lifting can definitely make him stronger.

haha she is a sponge! It's madness! I hope it sticks as she grows up. I'm not stopping any time soon so hopefully she'll embrace a healthy, strong lifestyle as well.

Running is good! I'm working on running my first 5k in a couple weeks (on Valentine's Day actually)It's a little intimidating thinking about it...I think I might pass out but hopefully it'll be a good experience.

 

[stovebolts]

Wow, so lifting heavy can stunt their growth. About what age does this not become an issue?

I know what you mean by little sponges! And yes, they do retain all of it! My son will be 10 next month, and you can just see the flowers blooming from the seeds that were planted when he was younger.

I also have a daughter who is now 19, and though I did not get to raise her, let alone see her until recently, I can see in her some things we used to do together when she was four. She has become quite the artist!

I used to love running (Think Forest Gump ) I ran so much when I was younger my feet are really paying the toll. I think it's cause of cheap shoes (Traxx). Apparently the tendons have hardened, and I've had a couple of cortizone shots, but as long as I stretch every day, they're bearable. I'm a bit concerned with running again, but I think the overall benefit will outweigh the rest. Besides, if it's something that my son and i can do together, then it's a good thing!

 

[LaMexicana]

Wow, so lifting heavy can stunt their growth. About what age does this not become an issue?

I know what you mean by little sponges! And yes, they do retain all of it! My son will be 10 next month, and you can just see the flowers blooming from the seeds that were planted when he was younger.

I also have a daughter who is now 19, and though I did not get to raise her, let alone see her until recently, I can see in her some things we used to do together when she was four. She has become quite the artist!

I used to love running (Think Forest Gump ) I ran so much when I was younger my feet are really paying the toll. I think it's cause of cheap shoes (Traxx). Apparently the tendons have hardened, and I've had a couple of cortizone shots, but as long as I stretch every day, they're bearable. I'm a bit concerned with running again, but I think the overall benefit will outweigh the rest. Besides, if it's something that my son and i can do together, then it's a good thing!

I would say 14 to 15. I mean, as long as he's not body building, it should be fine in high school.

Oh man! I know my daughter will bring up stuff that she remembers from now, later on in life. I'm afraid sometimes...haha

Well, I think you can start running at any age for sure. Once you get into (and past the whole hyper-ventilating thing) it can be a lot of fun and very relaxing. Always a good way to stay in shape. Maybe when my daughter gets older I'll let her join in as well. That's a good idea