Worth it or not
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Anonymous
| Kid has low muscle tone, please tell me if it is worth it or not to keep spending money for private 1:1 instructor (swim & basketball) and keep signing up for recreational teams (fall/spring soccer, winter/summer basketball and full year swim) for years just for social reason. It is for a 10 year old boy. I have been doing that since his kindergarten year, and I don't even know if it is worth it or not for the cost & time but he seems okay with it. I treat it as to srengthening his body/core, social reason and stay out from screentime. |
Anonymous
| Op here, he is making progress at a really slow rate, and he would never make it to any non competitive teams if there is any tryout. |
Anonymous
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As a parent of children with low muscle tone, I view athletics as absolutely worth it for the reasons you mention (minus screen time - my kids are same age and older than yours but still pretty low screens). The only treatment for low tone is to use your muscles. Plus socialization and being outside.
On top of what you mention, I view rec sports as a great way for kids to learn how to fail and bounce back, how persistence working on a skills leads to getting better in a non-linear way (get better, plateau and maybe even get worse for a while, get better again), and other life lessons. Rec sports are so low pressure. |
Anonymous
| I fully support keeping your son active, but be aware that at a certain age, boys will start to lose patience with your son if he cannot contribute to the team. We saw this play out badly for a teammate on our Rec basketball team. I think I noticed the shift from "happy Joey is here" to "good lord, he STILL can't catch the ball/dribble/shoot/learn the plays" around 11 or 12. At that point, the social element goes out the window and boys start to realize that this kid is putting them at a disadvantage (even on a Rec team) |
Anonymous
Op here. I am worried about what you say that teammates may find him annoyed one day because he does not contribute to the team. For swimming, it is an individual sport. For soccer, he can stay in the back playing more of a quiet & defense role running back and forth. It is not that noticable yet. For basketball, it is really tough and sometimes awkward to see him playing even at rec. county run team. He tries his best for sure. He is good at shooting balls in a hoop if no one blocks him. He is average height and average build. DH used to play at college basketball, and I have been asking him to coach him at free time. Unfortunately, my son does not like to play with or learn from his dad because DH beats him every time. DH is 6' 3". If he gets kicked out of basketball rec. team one day, I hope that I can find him a substitute rec. team sport for replacement. |
Anonymous
| Wtf is low muscle tone in a prepubescent kid |
Anonymous
It's called hypotonia and it's a real thing. Try googling it. |
Anonymous
| Lo dudo |
Anonymous
| Of course unless he’s so bad that it’s pissing the teammates off. |
Anonymous
| Have you considered other "individual" sports like tennis lessons or wrestling? It may take the pressure off of not pissing off teammates. Even standing in the back on defense for soccer sounds miserable once kids start scoring at will. |
Anonymous
| I'd lean into the individual sports and encourage him to continue as long as possible. For team sports, choose wisely and go with the sports that are easiest to sort of "hide" in (basketball and baseball are not good in that regard), but watch the social dynamic closely. Soccer starts to get much more competitive around 12ish, if I remember correctly. |
Anonymous
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Is he able to play basketball with a group of friends? While not the same issue as your DS, mine just flat out wasn't very good at the basketball. Was a decent enough defender, but offense was not his strong suit to put it kindly.
Playing with his friends made a big difference since they were less critical and when something negative did occur were less likely to jump all over him about it. He played rec hoops all the way through his senior year and it finally clicked when he was in late HS. Me personally, the last thing that I would want to do as a kid that is working on developing muscle tone is wrestle - that takes a special kind of kid IMO and would hate to see him getting wiped all over the mat. This comes from someone who went to college at a school known for wrestling and where youth wrestling was HUGE. Tennis - yes! Stick with Hoops. Swimming is a great too. He's 10. Got a lot of runway for growth and development. |
Anonymous
No. You know your own situation better than anyone here and i suspect you are asking because you need permission to stop with the unnecessary sports. Sports are entirely unnecessary for a satisfying and fulfilling life. Kids can socialize without sports. There is an almost infinite list of other activities that your kid can engage in. I understand the desire to have him go outside and touch grass but your kid's in a different situation than most. My mediocre basketball player is going to still be able to use those mediocre basketball skills when there is a pick up game at college. Do you see your kid doing this? Keep him swimming and maybe pick up a non-strenuous activity like shooting (god made men, colonel colt made them equal). |
Anonymous
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Seems wholly unfair and demoralizing for Dad to always beat his 10 year old son 😬 Maybe your husband could ease off a little bit...
Anyway, I'd say keep it going, especially the swim lessons if your son isn't a strong swimmer yet. I have a 14 year old with low muscle tone and he's been playing rec basketball since 2nd grade. He's always been tall so people expect him to be better than he is, but I'd say around 12, basketball started to really click and he became more aggressive with rebounding and taking shots. He wouldn't make his HS freshman basketball team but still enjoys rec. |
Anonymous
This is only true if OP's kid isn't enjoying the rec sports. If OP's kid likes them, then there's no need to quit until he doesn't. |