4 Reasons Why Your Kids Should Play Sports

I recently found this thought-provoking article by Dr. Jim Taylor about kids and sports over at the Huffington Post. Couldn't agree more with Dr. Taylor. Here's an excerpt along with a link to the full article:

 "As any parent of young athletes knows, having your children participate in sports can be a real hassle. There's getting them to and from practice and games, making sure they have the necessary equipment, ensuring they still make school a priority, and, for many parents, writing the checks to keep your kids in the game can be really unpleasant. Our two daughters are alpine ski racers on the Sugar Bowl Ski Team in Northern California and having to train and compete hours from our home near San Francisco adds another level of complexity. But whatever sport your children play, the challenges remain mostly the same, whether your kids are soccer players, golfers, gymnasts, or what have you.

I admit that I can be a bit of a taskmaster with my girls on those morning when they're dragging their feet. I will also admit that this 'forced' approach is a source of some irritation for my wife who believes (as I do to a lesser degree) that kids need downtime to rest and recovery from their busy days filled with school and other extracurricular activities.

My wife and I are also generally in agreement on not pressuring our children to do anything beyond their school and home responsibilities. We believe in allowing them to find and follow their own passions and interests (even if our girls have few at this point in their lives). At the same time, given that I was an internationally ranked ski racer "back in the day" and have a tremendous passion for skiing, I must also admit that I want our daughters to grow up to be good skiers and I want us to share the life of a skiing (and perhaps ski racing) family.

I began to ponder more deeply what I wanted our girls to get out of their sports experience and I realized that, though I do want them to become good skiers, there were far more important things I wanted them to gain from it that they can't readily get in other parts of their lives. In my musings, I came up with Four Reasons Why Your Kids Should Play Sports."

Read more at:  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-jim-taylor/4-reasons-why-your-kids-s_b_9401912.html

Also, here's an interesting blog to follow about how adults struggle to find their place in youth sports:
http://youthsportsparents.blogspot.com/