Let’s face it, raising kids cost a lot of money. Studies estimate that raising a child for a dual-parent middle class income family would cost three hundred thousand dollars. And this does not include the cost of post-secondary education.
Therefore, if a child can somehow find free education, in the form of an athletic scholarship, this would offload a lot of the financial pressures on the family.
In an age where children obesity is rising, it just makes common sense that families would focus on physical activity and also hope that their child might show some athletic prowess.
However, it is important to let the child find and explore the activities he’s interested in. There is such a thing as over pushy parents that absolutely crush the fun aspect of sports for the child. Moreover, by trying and playing different sports, a child learns to integrate and use different parts of his body. The hockey great Wayne Gretzky once said that he enjoyed playing lots of different sports as a kid and in fact, was quite a good lacrosse player as well. The skills he learned in lacrosse later helped him avoid the crushing hits of hockey.
By having fun and playing lots of sports also helps build different muscle groups and that in turn makes the person stronger. The foundation has been laid so the athlete doesn’t break down as easily and resort to wearing mens support girdles to hold himself together for stability.
The bottom line is, if you want your child to be an athlete, just expose him to lots of different sports. Let him make the decision on his own on what sports to play based on having fun. And even if he doesn’t show any athletic ability, he will still be a well rounded and healthy kid who will have fond memories of his childhood.
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