Ok. I love sports. I played sports growing up and still play sports as an adult. I love the competition, the exercise, and most of all the task of going against someone with all that you've got.
My daughter started tee ball this week. It was my wife's idea. We have had two practices and my theory on sports has just been totally validated. Kids shouldn't play organized sports until they are 8. A 4 year old trying to play tee ball is like watching a fat guy lay out on the beach. It is mildly entertaining, but after a short while you feel that it is just wrong and a waste of time.
Young kids do not have the ability to play team sports, nor do they have the attention span to fully understand what is being asked of them to do. The Swedes do not allow kids to play team sports until 8 years old...they still practice the basic skills of sports, but the competition is taken out, as well as the expectation to play together as a unit.
I would say that 60% of the tee ballers out on my daughter's team do not even understand the concept of "points" and "team". A good 15% of them don't want to even be there. The remaining 25 % are very interested in their glove, hat, or the dirt.
So why do we throw our kids into sports so early? I think part of it is because of ourselves...we feel that we get to relive sports through our kids and want to start reliving ASAP. Another reason may be that we as a society want our kids to be adults ASAP. Trust me...I have been grown up for years and would love to have done it slower. Lastly, I think we do things because the neighbor kids are doing it. Hell...if Joey across the street can play tee ball at 3 so can my kid....it is as simple as keeping up with the Jones.
Any comments?
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1 comment:
I would say it's not so much of keeping up with the Jones's, but more about feeling guilty that your kid may be falling behind. But take this as an example: My neice is playing on her first soccer team this year (and she's 8). The rest of girls on her team also have no previous experience playing. At first, they were getting beat 10-0 or more by the teams that had kids that had played before. However, by the end of the season, they were holding their own and even beating some teams.
So, even though we feel that we need to get them "involved" earlier, there is adequate proof that waiting until they are ready does not set them back later on.
That said, I gotta go back to timing my 2-yr olds 40 yard dash time. Dammit, over 5 seconds again! I guess somebody isn't getting that second ounce of whole milk today!
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