Not every child gets enthusiastic about a sport but, when they do, it’s something that a parent should be plenty supportive of. There are lots of values that children learn by training and playing sports, not to mention a habit for an active lifestyle that they start building at an early age, improving your family’s health. For that reason, here are just a few ways that you can support your kid’s love of the sport they have started taking an interest in.
Be there for them no matter what
If your child is doing great at sport and loving practice, then it’s easy to support them emotionally. However, what’s important is that this support doesn’t change or waver if they have a tough time, or however they might perform or compete in that sport. You might feel a twinge of disappointment if they are beaten, for instance, but you should never let that be the primary emotion that shows on the surface.
Make it about personal growth, not about how they do
Tying in with the previous point, you should make sure that winning and losing aren’t the only things that you care about. Losing can sometimes be a motivating factor, but if it’s the only one, it doesn’t hold up for very long. Instead, focus on how much they are improving personally and be sure to take the time to recognize the effort that they are putting into growing. For instance, you can even have your own custom trophies made to recognise the specific efforts they are putting in or how they have grown and developed as a player.
Help them find the time and place to practice
If your child is dedicated to their sport, then you’re going to find that they are going to start basing more of their schedule around training and practising. This might mean that you have to get up and ready earlier on weekends to hit up the pitch or take time out of your day to drive them around. You might be able to help some by installing sports equipment like luxury basketball hoops in the backyard. Of course, this is going to take some investment, so bear your budget in mind.
Be ready to pay
With that previous point in mind, a sporting career does typically take some investment and, if you want to help your child succeed, excel, or simply keep improving and trying hard, you should be ready to make that investment. This includes things like buying sports uniforms, as well as training equipment, but it might also later become helping them pay for a gym membership or paying for any sports trips they might be going on with the school or with their team. Putting together a budget or even helping your child find a part-time job to help pay for these may become crucial.
Before you go investing too much time or money into your child’s new sport, make sure that they’re actually sticking with it. Give it a few months to see that they’re committing, then decide to make the commitment yourself.
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