Home > Health > MOMania > Archives > 2006 > February > 17
Friday, February 17, 2006
Are ice skating, gymnastics, travel ball too intense for kids?
Would you let your kids play in super-competitive individual sports? What about the time-consuming traveling ball clubs?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
We’ve been watching the Olympics at night and one of the ice skating announcers mentioned that many of the skaters on the Chinese team have only been home for a few weeks since they were 13 years old. We were shocked.
I don’t know of any parents who have shipped their kids off for that long, but we do know a man who was wrapped up in two very competitive sports as a child. As a young boy he had a private swimming coach and private batting coach. He was training for a possible Olympic spot and played on a very competitive travel ball team. The kicker to this story is he couldn’t do his times tables. His mother told us, “I guess we never practiced that.�
How do you know if a sports environment is too intense for your child? How do you balance sport commitments with school?
Permalink | Comments (12) | Categories: Ethics of rearing kids today
