As summer approaches, tweens and teens with growing independence tend to spend more time on the field or in the pool being active in sports. Participating in team sports is an excellent way for youth to develop new skills, become good team players, and build new relationships with others. Youth have a strong and normal need to experience a sense of belonging with their peers, and team sports provides this kind of experience.
Sometimes swim lessons don’t go as planned. I’ve witnessed this exact situation from time to time in my many years as a swimming instructor. Anything can go wrong: from crying and screaming to refusing to participate to ignoring the swim instructor. Maybe your child was excited about swimming lessons before you left the house, but fell apart at some point before or during the class. Or maybe your child didn’t want to go at all. For a parent, this situation can be frustrating because you’re spending valuable time and money on lessons with the hope that your child will learn to be safe and confident in the water, and then your child doesn’t even want to participate.
Team sports are a great way to keep kids active, but not all kids enjoy playing them. When kids avoid team sports, parents look for other ways their children can continue to be healthy and active. How can you get your kids moving when they aren’t part of a sports team?
Libbey York’s expectations were low when she enrolled her sons Graham, eight, and Lawson, four, in a children’s yoga class last summer thinking they could meet friends and just try something new. But her children’s responses to the yoga classes truly surprised her. “They couldn’t stop talking about all of their new moves and practicing their poses all around the house!” she says.
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