Baddy kids

Most parents probably wonder what the right age is for a child to start playing a sport. While there are no hard and fast rules to this, starting early is always advisable. In fact, I would go to the extent of suggesting that a child can accompany a parent playing a sport right from the age of 3 or 4.The child need not start playing a sport at that age, but the idea is to get the child interested in sport. Then, depending on the sport, they can ideally start playing from age 6 or 7. Ideally, a child should be exposed to 2-3 different sports just to get a feel of that particular sport. Then, depending on the ability and interest of the child one can start specializing in a particular sport from age 9 or 10.

It is said that the ideal way to initiate a child into sports is to start with 3 basic sports – Athletics, Gymnastics, and Swimming. We call them the mother of all sports. There are two major advantages in this (1) You can be involved in these 3 sports from a very young age (2) It lays a strong physical foundation for the child to take up any other sport of his or her choice as they grow a little older. Unfortunately in India though, not many parents are aware of this and therefore push their children into playing a sport that the parents enjoy. This ideally, should be avoided to the extent possible.