Sport for highly sensitive/unathletic boy?
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Anonymous
This, swim, Karate and fencing seem to be the main go to sports. Anything individual. You could also try running. We just started fencing for our 7 year old and he loves it. VA has different places but in MD they do not let you start till 7 (one place will slightly before). |
Anonymous
| I would do a year of OT and gather notes from the OT on appropriate activities that will help you child's development where you need it (as one OT put it, "learning to play with your child in a different way"). Then do swimming or martial arts starting around age 7 or 8. |
Anonymous
| DS who is also sensitive and not athletic started taekwondo a couple of years ago when he turned 6 and it's been great. I will admit we never even tried team sports because he would get very frustrated and upset at simple pick-up games with friends and I just wasn't prepared to deal with tears at every practice and game. |
Anonymous
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He's 5 years old. I think I wouldn't do a "sport" at this age, especially for a child who doesn't like it.
What I would do: take him to the playground every single day and encourage him to climb, jump, run, balance, etc. And if he won't do it/can't do it, work with him until he can do it. Some kids naturally are great at making friends, others need coaching. Some kids can scamper up a ladder without thinking about it at 15 months old, others need coaching. Your's needs coaching. And you might have him work with an OT for balance issues if he just won't do stuff at a playground. But if he likes being active at the playground, then I'd leave it with that. Then, when he's in 2nd or 3rd grade, he could get involved in more individual sports, like golf, swimming, archery, gymnastics, whatever. He might never like team sports like baseball, soccer, basketball, where kids are running all over, in each other's faces, pushing, shoving... ugh. I never liked that stuff, either. For now I'd focus on making sure he knows how to ride a bike, gets lots of experience at playgrounds being active (not just playing in the sandbox all day every day) and if he just won't or you see lots of balance issues, having him work with an OT who can also give you tips on ways to work outside of OT, for 6 months might make a world of difference. I don't think all kids need to play team sports, but I do think it's good for all kids and adults to be comfortable with their bodies, feel that their bodies do what they want them to do (which he might not feel right now), and that they have good balance, and feel "like they can". |
Anonymous
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sounds like my 7 year old.
we just started Taekwondo and it's going great! He also likes Chess and swimming. Taekwondo is doing wonders though... in such a short time I have seen his self-esteem increase and he loves it. We have done basketball ( terrible for him) and soccer ( fine, but not a great fit) in the past. |
Anonymous
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My 6 year old daughter is exactly the same!
Soccer and basketball are way too chaotic for her. She tried gymnastics but the gyms are usually noisy with kids everywhere, and at that age, they don't do a ton in the way of strengthening, it's just a lot of taking turns doing cartwheels and stuff. At this age, an hour on the playground is actually more active than a gymnastics class. She couldn't care less if her toes were pointed either. She's very competitive though, and loves to be first so we've put her in swimming and she's loving it. There's something calming about the routine of practice, kids swimming in straight lines in the lanes, and it's not as noisy as other sports when her head is in the water. My friend's son is also very sensitive and anxious and he enjoys baseball and golf. He needs more of a controlled environment, firm rules, and coaches who don't yell. Good luck! I hope he finds something he enjoys! |
Anonymous
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Swimming
Martial arts Dance |
Anonymous
| My kid is not necessary unathletic more so than he just gets overwhelmed by all the sudden fast movements. He does rock climbing and loves it. |
Anonymous
This times our national debt to the 10th power. |
Anonymous
My kid plays lacrosse, football, and basketball. He also loves to play chess (is in the chess club as well), learned from his father who was a D1 college football player. My son does not seem nerdy (whatever that even means these days). |
Anonymous
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Have you signed you DS up for gymnastics / tumbling? (trampoline as he gets a little older)
Ice Skating Lessons? Swimming lessons? |
Anonymous
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Here is what we do for my low tone boy.
Swimming Lessons (started age 4) Karate Lessons (started age 5.5) Biking (started age 4 with training wheels. Make sure to keep getting an appropriate sized bike as he gets bigger - consider weight when buying a bike) Bike with family and friends. This was easier at age 7 to bike with friends as many friends did not have very good bike skills (like steering and braking). |
Anonymous
And at age 9, many kids are not very good at biking so teach him and go out with family on family bike rides. |
Anonymous
| I think golf is one of the best sports for kids. It can be exercise if you walk and carry your clubs. Maybe check out if your area has a "First Tee" program. |
Anonymous
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My son who is in second grade is the exact same way. After trying out all the typical team sports (soccer , basketball, ...), we tried out karate and he is liking it. He has been doing it for 18 months so far. Are there days were he is lazy and doesn't want to go? Sure ... but I try to encourage him and with a lot of positive re-enforcement, he'll go to class. It's an uphill battle but the key is to find something he likes (as cliche as that sounds)
Best of luck |