No. Do not force the kid to play sports. Its not fair to the kid or the team he will be on. Ive seen countless kids who are only playing because their parents want them to be what the parent used to be and in alot of cases, it does not work. I wish my son would be what i used to be myself...but its not working out that way so, we just do what we can. He likes soccer and is playing ice hockey this season and he likes both of those a great deal. Baseball...which he has done before and has the most talent and skill in....he has no interest in it anymore. So...we do hockey and soccer. Please....do not make your children play sports if they dont want to. Do make them go out and run in the yard or whatever to get exercise but dont force the sports.
absolutely not. Mine did the same thing....played soccer and hated it. Along about 3rd grade interest peaked again for Karate, which we did and they excel at. They want to play football now, so we are entertaining that thought for now.
Thanks for the feedback on that. My gut feeling is not to force him, so we haven't. Neither of his parents are particularly athletically inclined, so he comes by it honest! :mrgreen: He loves the cub scouts, so he is involved in stuff, and gets outdoors, I guess I just want to be sure he's not "missing out".
Oh, Lord, don't even want to go there, LOL!! Swimming has been a big bone of contention with the child too. He doesn't want to listen to us and doesn't want to take lessons. He's coming along now though, hopefully I can get him to do it this year. KIDS!!!! Had him in the water from the time he was a toddler, we had a boat back in TN and always took him with us, then he got hurt up at Riverwood in the pool and it was all we could do to get him to go back. He cut his foot badly on the slide and it was on from there! I have to mention, he is one stubborn child. :?
This is how my mother did to me when I was growing up: try all sports and see which one I'm very interested in. She let me chose what I enjoyed the most. That's how let my son try all sports and see which one he loves the most (love baseball, hate scoccer).
Completely agree! That is the kid that's always running around or talking and cutting up while the coach is giving instructions. Very frustrating for all. Let him try different sports. Take him to practices and let him watch the kids and see if he thinks he might want to try it out. Maybe he is nervous. Maybe he is afraid of doing something wrong or even getting hurt. Maybe he just really does not care about any sports. That's fine. Kids are all different. My boys both really seem to enjoy baseball and football and one DD loves soccer while the other is a dancer. All are different. We have made it clear that they did not have to do sports. DS#1 is a bundle of raw energy and could not WAIT to get started. DS#2 is slow as malasses and was a little worried when he saw his big brother play the first year of tackle ball. But as he watched, he was more excited. He is not up to tackle level yet and if he does not want to play then that's fine too. I know I have a blast watching all 4 of them do their own thing their own way. Something that has been interesting to me is that since DS#1 got a PS2 recently, I got him some of the sports games to play on there. He and his brother play each other in football and he LOVES to play with DH too. I've noticed that it has made him enjoy the sport even more and it helps both of them to get a better understanding of how it is played. And the 3 "guys" just seem to enjoy the whole sport idea together even more than before. Maybe see if your DS might have an interest in such a game. If he really likes one, he might want to play it himself? Just saying??? Just expose your son to lots of different sports and let him decide. The swimmimg thing....I feel for you. I think I'd have to insist he take lessons if it were me. But I just want all of my kids to be able to stay safe in water and not grow up afraid. I've known adults that have had a lifelong fear of water and I feel really bad for them. It has a huge effect on your life because you are always going to be faced with water and not being able to swim. Maybe find a really good and firm teacher and talk to them ahead of time. Might be better if you were not around during lessons too. I'd even try bribing him. Like...if you complete your lessons, I'll get you that ________ you really want. If it works, why not!
