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Effects of exercise on cognitive abilities in children
Effects of exercise on cognitive abilities in children
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There comes a time when parents will have to make decisions concerning their children. “What shirt would you want to wear?,” or “Will you eat this?” These are a few of the easier questions parents have to answer. One of the tougher questions parents have to answer is “Why should you be allowed to participate in sports?” There are many different opinions and studies on the topic of student athletes. Some parents will not allow their child to participate in sports because of the time and money commitment. Other parents encourage their child to play sports, in hopes that their children will benefit from athletics. Many children flourish because of the opportunities that becoming an athlete gave them. Many children never get the chance to become …show more content…
Some children do not engage in sports because of a lack of resources or money. Many sports have expensive team fees and require matching uniforms or equipment. “Some estimates suggest more than 700,000 kids miss out on school athletics because their families can’t afford the cost” (Foley). Fees to participate are a large contributor to the fact that lower income children refrain from partaking in sports. Athletes have many time consuming practices and games. The practices or late night games prevent time to be spent together as a family. The time that is put into the sport tends to take up an overwhelming amount of a child’s life. As a mother of a student athlete stated, “We...embarked on an epic struggle between sports and family life. Over the years, we saw one family activity after another bow its head to youth sports. Dinner at home, reading before bedtime, visits to grandma's house, household chores...camping trips, school vacations - all casualties of the children's sports schedule” (Twomey). Although kids participating in sports cost time and money, students can often better their emotional …show more content…
A student active in sports can reap the perquisites of their training for the rest of his or her life. Sports give youth an incentive to succeed in and out of the sports facility. “[T]here are clear and robust individual and societal benefits that appear to be generated through the current system of school support for participation in competitive youth athletics” (Kniffin). Being involved in athletics gives children the opportunity to have fun and make memories while learning significant life lessons. Children unknowingly receive traits that stick with them for a lifetime, such as accountability or life long habits of achieving good health. Children also can achieve a life long friendship and a better self confidence because of the advantages that sports provide students. Participation in extracurricular activities ensures significant benefits for
Athletes in times of difficulty can be important role models.” This shows that sports are in fact helpful because they can grow children into being important role models for the rest of society. Studies have shown time and time again that playing sports can be beneficial to children and we also believe this to be true. Many people still think that sports cause “too many injuries”, or coaches “are not fair enough”, but adolescents will experience these things all throughout their lives because injury can happen anywhere and they will not always be the best at what they are doing. Sports are beneficial to the youth because they can teach children and teens important life skills, help them maintain a fit and healthy lifestyle, all while improving their mental health.
Sports help them stay in shape because, the Aspen Institute, a nonprofit organization that does humanistic studies, said, “Exercise is one of the least expensive ways to stay healthy, with one study finding that exercise can prevent chronic diseases as effectively as medication,” (Aspen Institute). One of the many benefits of playing sports is that the children will build character. Building character is important because with character they will make new friends and develop different skills. Playing sports at a young age can build character in many ways, “Playing sports at a young age enables children to participate in social interactions and build skills such as teamwork, leadership, and responsibility as they learn to work with others to achieve a common goal,” (Aspen Institute).
Participating in a sport at an early age can be essential to the overall growth process during a child’s upbringing. Whether the participation is through some sort of organized league or just getting together amongst friends and playing, the lessons learned from this can help teach these kids and provide a positive message to them as they develop. There is a certain point, however, when organized sports can hinder progress, which is when adults get too involved and forget about the underlying reason to why they are helping. While adult involvement is necessary, adult involvement can sometimes send the wrong message to children when they try to make participation become more than just about fun and learning. According to Coakley (2009), “organized sports are worth the effort put forth by adults, as long as they do what is in the best interest of their children and put that thought ahead of their own agenda” (Coakley, p. 151). This is a valid argument because once adults put themselves in front of the children and their values, it needs to be re-evaluated as to why they first got involved in the beginning. Partaking in organized sport and activity from a young age can be beneficial to the overall development of children, as long as decisions actions are made in the best interest of the children and not stemming from ulterior motives of adults.
Sports are a popular pastime among all ages and types of people. People not only participate in them for fun, but also for money, physical fitness, rush of competition, and for many other personal reasons. Playing sports is especially common among young people in schools. Athletics are great and enjoyable for many reasons, but there can be a point where sports participation can go too far and become negative for children and adults. Sports specialization for young people is an increasing trend that results in sports having a negative impact on individuals and society.
The benefits of participating in competitive youth sports are worth the drawbacks because athletes learn discipline and responsibility and sports also help athletes make and keep commitments that they will make later in life. In the article “Have Youth Sports Become Too Intense?,” the issue of youth sports and if they have become too intense is debated. Children are taught to be respectful and to be nice to others. Students who play sports are better well rounded than those who aren't.
Sports teach lessons that are not taught in the classroom or anywhere else. Parents that deny children from engaging in sports are robbing them from valuable life lessons. Sports, even high-impact ones, display riotousness of the human quality. Sports teach children to not limit themselves to what they can achieve. Ultimately, the author says, overprotecting children will only make them unprepared for when they enter the real world, A place that is unfair and demands persistence for people to
More specifically, children are also increasingly pressured--again, usually by parents and coaches--to specialize in one sport and to play it year-round, often on several different teams (Perry). Now, if sports specialization is such a great idea, then why are kids being “pressured”? As stated before, sports specialization can result in severe injury or even retirement from sports all together. Evidently, parents would not want to risk their athlete’s entire athletic career just because of an overuse injury. Knowing this, a diversity in sports activities is the solution to the problem. Additionally, a specialization in sports can lead to the young athlete not experiencing a sport that he or she may truly enjoy in their life. If a parent already makes a child decide on a sport to play, how will the child know if that is the sport they truly want to participate in? As the child ages, they could realize that the sport they play now is not one that they love anymore, so they could just quit. Deciding at such a young age is not only a hasty decision, but also a terrible one. Finally, this specialization can also create social problems. If a child is already so competitively involved in a sport, then their social lives and relationships with friends are at risk. The clear choice here is to let the child live a normal life by allowing them to make friends and play, rather than taking over their lives with competitive
Sports teach kids to learn many life lessons, lessons that will be important such as working in a team or working hard toward a goal. Parents are far too involved in youth sports. In our current time, kids have no independence in sports, everything is parent run, with the intentions of the parent trying to have their kids win and become elite superstars. Atkinson writes in an article that in his home town of Methuen Massachusetts he and all the other kids in his town used to organize all the sports, and parents would help cover the financial part, but the sport itself was directed by the kids, the way youth sports should be run, for the interest of the kids. Kids should determine what goes on; kids should be able to experiment with different sports in a non hostile environment in which they can fun. Having fun is most important in youth sports along with learning life lessons. Kids who enjoyed youth sports growing up were more likely to go onto play high school sports (Atkinson). Of course there are exceptions in which some kids will want to be pushed in a sport; however, it must have the child's desire to be pushed not the parents’(Hatter). Lastly, as important as sports are in society in the 21st century especially in the U.S. kids need to be able to have a life outside of sports. Kids should be able to have fun away from sports (Katen). Kids should be kids, very few kids will be going professional in sports, and it is important kids
Dreams of glory, gold metals, and fame bounce around in every parent’s mind as he/she signs up his/her child for his/her first sport. The desire for college scholarships and multimillion-dollar contracts has many parents pushing their children harder than ever to participate in sports. Children are being enrolled into sports leagues at a younger age than ever before, many of whom are even being pressured to participate year-round in the hopes of creating the next Michael Jordan. While involving a child in athletics has several benefits, it also has a great deal of drawbacks. Pushing children to participate in sports they show no interest in can negatively impact their self-esteem, create resentment, result in a drop in grades, and increase
Sports can help many at- risk youths. In order to participate in sports you need to be committed and willing to work hard. You also have to learn to respect others and accept that winning isn’t the only measure of success. Losing can build character as well. When youth participate in a sports they enjoy, they are less likely to engage in behaviors that are harmful or dangerous to themselves and others. It is for these reasons schools should strive to maintain athletic programs for their students.
According to statistics gathered by youth sports organizations, “Up to 50 million kids play youth sports in America, and 73 percent who begin playing a sport quit before they turn 13” (Binns). The children could have quit because they did not like the disappointment of losing, or because they are exhausted from their parents pushing them too hard. But parents have their reasons for pushing their children into sports. “Studies show that kids who play sports are less likely to become obese, abuse drugs or alcohol or to perform poorly in school” (McCormick). If children are not active, then they will most likely become overweight, and if they have nothing to do in their pastime, they may turn to drugs and alcohol, which usually leads to a decrease of grades in school. A parent putting his/her child in sports gives the child something to do and keeps them fit. Parents also put their child in a sport hoping that he/she will get success out of it “Eager to nurture the next A-Rod or Michelle Kwan, parents enroll their 5- or 6-year-olds in a competitive sports league or program” (Stenson). While not all parents are pushing for future Olympians, the fight for a sports college scholarship is competitive and parents may feel that their child will have a better chance of gaining one if he/she starts competitive sports early. Parents push their children to succeed, and children--not wanting to disappoint their parents--push themselves, sometimes harder than they should. If done right, pushing a child into sports can have a positive effect on the child’s interaction with other children while teaching them commitment and healthy competition. However, focusing on winning and earning a scholarship versus having fun may backfire, because the cons...
The pressure put on by parents and coaches to perform well and win all the time can lead kids to carry that pressure through different environments, such as the school and home environments. Pressure put by parents and coaches can lead children to start disliking their sport tremendously. Matt Roth, a sports specific physician, describes sports as a “waste of money and time” because of the enormous amounts of data and statistics that show that due to all the pressure to perform put on children, 75% of children drop out of sports altogether by the time they reach high school (Roth). The amount of pressure and stress carried through by coaches and parents leads most kids to stop enjoying the sport they started off loving. In his talk, John O'Sullivan, the founder of the Changing the Game Project, starts by talking about his 5 year old’s soccer game and the 10 year old’s soccer game in the field next them.
These days, there is too much pressure on children who participate in organized sports because of the unnecessary parental involvement they experience. A growing concern amongst those involved in youth sports is that certain aspects of parental involvement become detrimental to the development and experiences of young athletes. Early emphasis on winning, making money, and the disruption of education can exceedingly affect ones desire to further participate in a sport later on in his/her life.
Sports programs have been an integral part of all schools. They support the academics of the school and therefore foster success in life. These programs are educational and help produce productive citizenship. They help students experience and build skills that may help them in their future, like interpersonal and time management skills. Education may kindle the light of knowledge, but sports help to maintain the proper physique. Sports are also an important means of entertainment and a use for energy after long hours of study. Sports increase a student’s performance not only in the classroom but also in their life.
According to the Center For Parent/Youth Understanding(CPYU) nearly thirty-six million children ages six to seventeen in the United States participate in team sports which is seventy-four percent of today’s youth. Most students play a sport to have fun; however, students begin to drop out of athletics as they age. A Michigan State Youth Sports Institute survey showed that seventy percent of young athletes will drop out of sports before turning thirteen(CPYU, 1). Teenagers start to pursue