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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]DD8 plays travel soccer. She is ok. Not the best not the worst. I think if we pushed her more she could move up to the higher level teams. Is it worth it? I see other kids who are definitely pushed by their parents to do more practice individually outside of practice times or have private coaches. Not sure what the end goal is for an 8 year old.

FWIW I played travel everything growing up and loved it but never played in college.

Academics come first in our family however - both DH and I have masters or higher education and were high achievers throughout high school and college. Kids right now are doing very well in school. [/quote]

Advice from the other side- my kids are in high school and college  this is what I’ve learned.

1. Sports (especially competitive sports) are the best and easiest way to make sure your child gets the exercise, socialization and screen free time that your kids need.  There’s lots of ways to make sure they get all that but having a set schedule and plan is way easier than doing it yourself.

2.  The bad stuff about sports (overuse injuries, pressure, stress etc.). Is almost always a product of the parent’s attitude.

3. Sports are an excellent window in your child’s world.  You will see how they interact with friends, authority, how they handle stree and even if they have developmental issues.

4. Sports will give you and your child a joint project (ie their sports career) that will deepen your relationship and give you plenty of opportunities to reinforce lessons and values.

5. You may find your best friends on those fields.  I have friends from school and work but the guys that I coached with and put together teams with are some of my favorite people.

6. In my experience sports always helped with academics because practices and games structured thier time.  Their worst grades always came when they were off-season.

On big caveat- all of this depends on you and your child.  If he really is drawn to dance or robotics or something else you should do that thing (in my experience parents have a large roll in determining what there kids are into)  also if you can not stand sports it will be miserable for both of you.

Good luck! [/quote]

All that sounds good, but a kid doesn't need sports for that.[/quote]

Nobody said they do, dummy.[/quote]

Rude!![/quote]

But true![/quote]

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