Sport for tots: How young is too young?
Meg Faure weighs in on how young we can start nurturing a love of active living in our little ones.
As we’ve learned by now, there is overwhelming evidence that an active lifestyle is good for the body and mind. We also know that the earlier we nurture a healthy lifestyle, the better. The question is when is the best time to start encouraging our little ones to develop their sporting skills?
Your young child is at a highly impressionable age in the toddler to tween years. By the time the teenage years roll around, their world begins to expand, and their influences become a lot more varied. It’s best then to impart those golden long-term values – including prioritising healthy living, exercise and engaging on the sports field - before they become more independent. Since we know that exercise is vital for managing a healthy weight, immunity, cardiac and musculoskeletal fitness, as well as your child’s mood, it is definitely a habit we do want to encourage.
As tough as this may be to hear, in the first 5 years of life, the best way to bed down a desire to be active is to model it ourselves. When your two-year-old watches his Dad come in at the 94.7 cycle finish or watches mom train daily for the Two Oceans race, they learn that exercise is a way of life. So, the first tip when getting your child into sport is to (literally) walk the talk.
In the first three years, formal sport sessions and routines are not recommended. Like all formal learning, classes and structured lessons are best left until the preschool years. That does not mean that your toddler will be doing nothing though. These are some ideas to keep the younger ones moving:
- Limit screen time as much as possible in the early years. Watching TV decreases active time, which results in a lower fitness base later on when formal sports start.
- Play-based exercise is the way to go for this age. Go to a park and let your child run free, climb and take movement risks – all these activities while informal will build a fitness base that will be needed for sport later on.
- Playing with a bat and a ball, climbing over and under an obstacle course or playing hop-scotch are all ways little ones develop crucial coordination foundations for formal sports later.
- Swim classes are a good idea for this age. It helps keep your mind at ease at the pool or the beach, while also helping little ones gain confidence when it comes to moving their bodies.
Structured activity classes are fabulous for the years before preschool (3 to 5 years old), and are an excellent way to refine motor skills and introduce your child to teamwork. I particularly like the play focussed sports foundation classes, such as playball, little kickers, ballet tots and yoga for kids.
Organised team sports are recommended from 6 or 7 years old as this is the time when your child will best be able to understand teamwork and rules, and cope better with the frustrations that come with competition.
Starting early but gently, without pressure, is the best way to encourage a sport and fitness lifestyle for your child.
The views, thoughts and opinions expressed in this article/post are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Woolworths or any of its affiliates, directors, officers, employees and/or advisers.