How to give your child a happy childhood? - Part 6: Helping children love sports

Many schools now have only two short physical education periods a week.

Basketball - a very good sport for height development - Photo: THUY CHI

Many children gradually lose interest in sports, completely unwilling to play any sport, be it soccer, badminton, swimming, martial arts, other than making "soulmate" friends with the computer or phone whenever they don't have to study. Is there any way to change this, how to make children love sports?

Any age can choose to practice a suitable sport. But for children today, parents should guide their children to play sports early, when they are not yet addicted to social networks, then it will be easier. Any sport is fine, then they will probably realize their favorite sport to practice long-term. And importantly, parents also need to play sports to expect their children to love sports.

TRUONG THANH HAI

When children... are afraid of sports

"Our generation was so engrossed in playing sports after school that we forgot about mealtimes and our parents had to come looking for us," teacher Nguyen Xuan Thieu, Nguyen Van Nguyen Primary School, Tay Ninh province, happily said.

The teacher confided that he grew up in the countryside, during a time of economic hardship. It was normal for students to skip breakfast to go to school, and if they did eat, they only ate sweet potatoes and rice with fish sauce and salt.

"Most of the students in our time were physically weaker than today, both in weight and height. Many students in 8th and 9th grade were still as small as today's final grade elementary school students. But our sportsmanship was very strong.

In class, physical education class usually has three subjects: running, long jump, and high jump. Everyone loves this class because they get to exercise on the field. After school, the boys stay behind to play soccer, shuttlecock, and when they get a little older, they play volleyball at the end of middle school and high school. The girls love to jump rope..." - teacher Thieu added that at that time, it was normal to study in the morning and stay behind to play sports in the blazing midday sun. Everyone was dark-skinned and strong.

However, in the past 10-15 years, when technology and entertainment devices such as phones, tablets, laptops, and televisions have become more popular and cheaper for easy access, the love for sports has decreased significantly. Mr. Thieu said that guiding children to pursue a certain sport is very difficult for both families and teachers.

In fact, outside of school hours, some students choose to practice their favorite sport such as soccer, badminton, martial arts, swimming... at clubs or parks, but the majority of students do not have that opportunity.

Many reasons for this lack of interest in sports have been given by teachers, parents and students themselves.

The first reason often mentioned is that students have to study too much, from boarding school all day, to doing homework in the evening, and going to extra classes on the weekend, so they have no time for sports.

The second reason is that children are "addicted" to electronic devices for watching online entertainment or playing games.

And the third reason from the school itself is that there are too few physical education hours, while children are busy with their main subjects, so they do not have the opportunity to play sports at school, and as a result, children gradually become lazy and no longer interested in physical activities.

In addition, many parents also think that another reason is that the current urban development speed does not correspond to sports centers, many areas do not have or are too far from sports clubs...

Sports not only help children physically but also train their will, perseverance and teamwork - Photo: THUY CHI

Find your child a love of sports

However, the reality is somewhat optimistic that many parents are aware of the consequences of their children's passive lifestyle and lack of physical activity. Unable to wait for schools to increase physical education hours, they have managed to get their children to love sports and have been somewhat successful.

Mr. Truong Thanh Hai (43 years old, director of a packaging production facility in Ben Luc commune, Tay Ninh) said he was aware of the sedentary lifestyle of children today, so he encouraged his children to love sports from preschool age.

He said: "My wife and I have been aware of how to raise our children since we got married. We have realized the problem of "addiction" to phones and social media entertainment nowadays, so we do not allow children to have access to them from a young age. My wife never turns on the TV or phone for the children to watch while eating porridge or rice like many other families.

As soon as my child turned 2, we made a rule that parents cannot surf social media or watch too much TV while the child is around, so the children do not imitate us."

Hai's two children were born one year apart. When the older one was 6 and the younger one was 5, he and his wife took them to swimming lessons. At first, they were hesitant, but when they saw their parents also going to the pool, they were immediately happy. The problem of children getting sick when they first learned to swim, such as ear, nose, throat infections, colds, etc., was also considered by the couple.

First, they choose a cleaner pool than the others, then they always bathe their children thoroughly after swimming and carefully clean their ears, nose, and throat with saline solution.

"Actually, the two kids also suffered from minor illnesses in the first few weeks, but after that, they developed good resistance. After only two months of studying, my two little princesses were proficient in the two swimming styles of breaststroke and freestyle at the age of 5 or 6" - he added that when their children learned to swim, the couple was as happy as if they had accomplished something big. Because they realize that swimming is one of the most important survival skills that must be learned early...

When the children were in primary school and now in secondary school, the couple still arranged for them to go swimming at least 2-3 times a week, including one midweek session and two weekends, each session was an hour. In the pool, if there were not enough parents, there was always one person present, so the children were very confident and loved swimming.

In addition, the couple's badminton hobby has also been passed on to their two daughters. "The children play at least 2 hours of badminton a week. I have a doctor friend who advises that playing badminton is not only good for bones, muscles, and the cardiovascular system, but also very good for the eyes when you have to constantly observe the shuttlecock flying" - Mr. Hai said that he was afraid that his children would soon be nearsighted if they studied too much, so he let them play badminton as his friend advised.

Unlike Mr. Hai and his wife who were not aware of orienting their children towards sports early on, many other parents, although having initial difficulties, have gradually succeeded in getting their children to exercise and stay away from small and big screens in the house.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Thanh (38 years old, bank employee in Hoa Binh ward, Ho Chi Minh City) said her way is to let her child stay at school after school hours so that she can have about an hour to play sports with her friends. The school yard has groups playing soccer, basketball and volleyball, and her 8th grade son plays all of them.

"Now the boy is enjoying basketball. My husband and I fully support him and advise him to eat and sleep regularly to develop a height suitable for this sport. He understands and is conscious of eating more nutritious food, going to bed before 10pm, and going to bed before 9:30pm on weekends. He also asks his parents to install a pull-up bar at home to practice increasing his height" - Ms. Thanh added that since the first year of middle school, his son has gradually started to enjoy playing sports.

They also send their son to a basketball club three times a week, practicing for an hour and a half each time. Her husband also said that when their son enters 10th grade, they will send him to martial arts classes so that he can at least learn basic self-defense.

Like Hai and his wife who love swimming and badminton, Thanh and her husband enjoy walking in the park near their home. Every week, no matter how busy they are, they spend five walking sessions with a total time of at least 5 hours. "I want parents to set an example of exercising for their children to follow," Thanh happily said.

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"9X generation parents often worry about different educational trends and many negative things from the outside. But amidst those worries, my husband and I sometimes say to each other, "Okay, we just need to love our children."

Next: Just love your child

THUY CHI

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/lam-the-nao-cho-con-tuoi-tho-hanh-phuc-ky-6-giup-tre-dam-me-the-thao-2025102223332084.htm