Have you ever wondered when is the right time to start sports or other activities for your kids? I have found is there is no magic number. It depends on each individual child and his interests and personality.
My oldest is quiet and nervous in new situations. He tried out for basketball at five years old. He ended up crying through the entire experience, and we eventually decided to pull him out. We didn’t want him to hate the sport forever because of one experience at age five.
We figured out that our oldest enjoys individual sports better and is thriving in both gymnastics and taekwondo.
Fast forward and my second son told me he wanted to play basketball at four years old. I kept putting it off because of our experience with our oldest. I figured he would be too scared to participate once we got there.
After six months of consistently telling us he wanted to play basketball, we finally decided to give it a try. To my surprise, he loves it. He went right out, listened, and participated during it all.
Looking back, my second son loved playing with every ball he could find since he was a little baby. My oldest never had much of an interest. My oldest is very physical and loves to use his body in his play. One loves to draw, while the other would rather dribble a ball nonstop. While I look for art camps for one, I’m looking at more basketball teams for the other. Add in our baby who loves music and dancing, and we’ll soon be going to music camps and classes.
As always, my kids show me just how different they are, and there’s no one way to parent every child. So there’s no magic number. Instead, there’s magic in finding activities that each child enjoys and thrives in.
We are just at the beginning of sports and activities, but I love seeing my individual kid’s interests, and I can’t wait to see how they grow and thrive independently.
