The Negative Effects Of Pushing Children Into Playing Sports Are you the type of parent who wants your children to play every sport you played when you were a child? Or do you have dreams of having your kids play in a professional sport when they grow up? Because of these reasons, many children are being considered into sports leagues at younger ages or compelled to join in sports in the expectation of creating the next NFL or NBA star. There are great benefits of playing sports. According to the American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine (AOSSM) (2012), high school athletes who regularly play sports not only has physical benefits but also are less likely to smoke or use drugs, have lower dropout rates, higher success in the classroom, and better chance of going to college. However, in the contrary, parents who push their children into playing sports can negatively impact their children’s emotional development and damage the parent-child relationship. Parents push their children to play sports for several reasons. They love their children and want them to have the best, prosperous childhood. And the best way they can fulfill that is by having their children …show more content…
When push so hard, the child may develop negative self-esteem issues (Ellis, 2013). The child starts to feel that he or she is a failure when not performing well. According to Ellis (2013), the child will continually fail if placed in humiliating situations due to lack of ability and forced to compete. Children become emotionally unstable when reprimanded for performance. They get stressed out and exhibit anxiety during the game. They start to withdraw from peers or social interaction and become depressed. According to the American Academy of Pediatrics (2007), there is a direct link between the early pressure-filled intense preparation for a high-achieving adulthood and mental health concerns such as
In “children Need to Play,” Jessica Statsky talks about her concerns regarding the issues of the destructive effects of competitive sports on children. Parents need to acknowledge this reality because it has a great influence on children at this time of age and it has become an integral part of life. As these games are designed on the basis of an adult, there physical and psychological aspects are considered before hand and a child under 14 years of age can easily be damaged on physical and psychological levels because all these sports are dangerous to children. Extreme physical activities put an unbearable strain on the developing bodies. The idea of winning sometimes forces the little ones to go to such extents that sometimes that
Winning is the main goal in competitive sports, and coaches really press players to do their best, and preferably, to win. According to Livestrong, “children sometimes develop a bad attitude while playing sports when they are frustrated or disappointed. Children may also act in an unsportsmanlike manner when imitating the actions and attitudes of teammates or professional athletes”(Richards, Rebekah. "How to Deal With Your Kid's Bad Attitude in Sports."LIVESTRONG.COM. Leaf Group, 11 July 2015. Web. 12 Apr. 2017.). Children can develop these bad habits, and they can not only be rude during games and practices, but they can show these habits outside of sports. This will cause a hard time for children in school, at home, and in the real world, in general. Parents can also develop poor attitude when their child’s team loses or isn’t playing very well. This will cause a hard time for other parents of the sports team. According to NBC News, “Parents -- and coaches -- who push too hard too young, particularly when they emphasize winning above all else, can easily wipe out a child’s motivation to play, says Dr. Henry Goitz, chief of sports medicine at the Medical College of Ohio in Toledo.” (Stenson, Jacqueline. "Pushing Too Hard Too Young." NBCNews.com. NBCUniversal News Group, 29 Apr. 2004. Web. 12 Apr. 2017.). Sometimes it’s not the
Sports play an important role in American culture, with the top four most popular being football, baseball, basketball and ice hockey. These professional athletes make millions of dollars through their annual salaries and endorsements. Many wonder how they got to where they are today and was it worth it. There are mixed messages about participating in sports as a child and how it affects their development. Some believe that sports will help their child develop better communication skills, self-confidence and build character, while others believe that young athletes will develop aggression traits such as bullying, competitiveness, and aggressiveness. Although some believe that sports participation as a child will lead to aggressive children, there is ample evidence through research that sports benefits a child’s cognitive, social, and, physical development.
It is not just the injuries that are playing a major effect in kids, but it is the physical and mental draining that is coming from their parents and coaches. Parents are pushing their kids to do all this extra stuff to make them the best on the team. Gerdy reports, “Youth sports programs are no longer about meeting the educational, development, and recreational needs of children but rather about satisfying ego needs of the adults” (Gerdy). These children no longer have a chance to learn the simply fundamentals because of their parents forcing them to the next level too early. Parents are also causing disturbances during their child’s game. Parent misconduct in youth sports refers to any disruptive, abusive, or violent behavior parents. The article responds, “The main purpose of youth sports, that is, to teach and guide young athletes in skill development in their sport of choice, to provide encouragement and support, to build self-esteem, and to allow children to have fun while exercising” (Atkinson). Parents have begun to promote the total opposite but screaming at their kid to do better instead of encouraging. These violent calls from the parents begin to produce emotional suffering and damage to the child because they begin to think too much about being perfect all the time and not enough about just having fun. Also, when these children are the parents and their kids are playing they will
Our society, in terms of world sports, has grown increasingly impressive. Most professional athletes have been playing their specialized sport since grade school, and although impressive, the people we are rooting for are wearing out quickly. Although youth sports programs are a health benefit to society, they also pose disadvantages to a young person’s growth and development.
Sports teach kids to learn many life lessons, lessons that will be important such as working in a team or working hard toward a goal. Parents are far too involved in youth sports. In our current time, kids have no independence in sports, everything is parent run, with the intentions of the parent trying to have their kids win and become elite superstars. Atkinson writes in an article that in his home town of Methuen Massachusetts he and all the other kids in his town used to organize all the sports, and parents would help cover the financial part, but the sport itself was directed by the kids, the way youth sports should be run, for the interest of the kids. Kids should determine what goes on; kids should be able to experiment with different sports in a non hostile environment in which they can fun. Having fun is most important in youth sports along with learning life lessons. Kids who enjoyed youth sports growing up were more likely to go onto play high school sports (Atkinson). Of course there are exceptions in which some kids will want to be pushed in a sport; however, it must have the child's desire to be pushed not the parents’(Hatter). Lastly, as important as sports are in society in the 21st century especially in the U.S. kids need to be able to have a life outside of sports. Kids should be able to have fun away from sports (Katen). Kids should be kids, very few kids will be going professional in sports, and it is important kids
I agree with the point that the focus of sports has shifted just to winning the game as the world has turned into a big rat race where everyone is trying to bring the others down. These types of sports should not be a part of children’s life. They have a hazardous effect on the development of a child’s body and personality. Due to the demanding nature, the children are affected mentally and physically. Their bodies are not developed to take this much of pressure. Jessica puts it rightly when she says that the inability to perform physically leads the children to develop mental health
Among those reasons are overtraining, overuse, and specialization, all of which can be both good and bad depending on how you use them. Overuse and overtraining can lead to something that no parent, coach, or young athlete would have ever dreamt of: burnout. Burnout not only eliminates that athlete from the sport they were just competing in, burnout also leads to negative effects in the future by promoting dropout and an unhealthy lifestyle. Does early child participation in competitive sports have a negative effect on their future in sports? There are a lot of factors that can make competitive sports great for youth athletes.
Stress can lead up to many mental illnesses such as anxiety, depression, anorexia and many more. When a child is playing a sport under a lot of stress it is easy for them to lose focus and become at risk of an injury. Every parent wants what's best for their child. Unfortunately, many parents are too upset about the game that they unleash their anger out on the kid because of their performance. The most important time to give your child space is after a loss, or a bad game says Braff.
Confucius once said, "he who does not do well is less guilty than he who pushes too hard." People found that competitive sports are often physically straining and it is detrimental to proper emotional development. This blows away the misconception that competitive sports create a healthy and engaging atmosphere for kids. This and an overly strong obsession with winning create a toxic mix for the child’s wellbeing. People have begun to realize the world of competitive may be doing more harm than good for their children. Parents have also begun to notice that competitive sports often injure their children severely and also make the child feel left out, which in turn is detrimental to the child 's emotional health. Therefore, competitive sports
According to statistics gathered by youth sports organizations, “Up to 50 million kids play youth sports in America, and 73 percent of those who begin playing a sport quit before they turn 13” (Binns). The children could have quit because they did not like the disappointment of losing, or because they are exhausted from their parents pushing them too hard. But parents have their reasons for pushing their children into sports. “Studies show that kids who play sports are less likely to become obese, abuse drugs or alcohol or to perform poorly in school” (McCormick). If children are not active, then they will most likely become overweight, and if they have nothing to do in their pastime, they may turn to drugs and alcohol, which usually leads to a decrease in grades in school.
These days, there is too much pressure on children who participate in organized sports because of the unnecessary parental involvement they experience. A growing concern amongst those involved in youth sports is that certain aspects of parental involvement become detrimental to the development and experiences of young athletes. Early emphasis on winning, making money, and the disruption of education can exceedingly affect ones desire to further participate in a sport later on in his/her life.
Children who participate in sports are developing rapidly in sports skills, sportsmanship, and psychologically, but does this come from organized sports are just nature’s process. Children develop emotional and social benefits from participating in sports. Children experience character and leadership development through peer relations leading to an increase in self-esteem and a decrease in anxiety levels. Children will get opportunities to experience positive and negative emotions throughout their practice and games trials. It is important for the coach to understand the “psychology of youth sports and physical activity participation” (Weinberg & Gould, 2011 p.516).
Let’s review the Pros of children taking part in organized sports: physical activity, socialization, health competition, self-esteem, and discipline. With every action there is an equal reaction also known as the Cons of children taking part in organized sports: which are injuries, cost, stress, and lost family time together.Some of the benefits of playing outdoor sports, are stated by Adnan Samia in an article entitled “Benefits of Sports.” In schools today the break time is hardly 20 to 30 minutes. Playing outdoor games enhance endurance, flexibility, improve balance as well as strengthen bones and muscles. Sports help in developing better hand-eye co-ordination and fast foot movement. The children who play sports are less likely to get arthritis and diabetes than their peers who do not exercise or play games.
Sports have always been a vast part of American culture. We give our babies different sports items to play with. From the time they can walk they have sports pushed on them. If you go to any store to buy toys for children you can find all sorts of different sports items for kids. Many parents push these sports items on their child hoping that they will be the next phenom in the world of sports. Who wouldn’t want this for their child? Athletics can open up all types of opportunities. It can pay for college and if they happen to play at the professional level they will be making vast amounts of money. Although sports can be great are these parents pushing their kids to hard? No matter if there are some detrimental aspects to sports there is always the positive of the life lessons that can be learned.