Sports refusers – When children do not want to do sports

My child does not want to do sports

The school entrance exam is coming up. In addition to a hearing and vision test, the necessary examinations also include checking your body weight.

6-year-old Moritz steps on the scales reluctantly because he knows exactly what is coming next. A look at the display shows that she is clearly overweight and causes worry lines to grow on the pediatrician’s forehead. “Ms. Schmidt – her son has to change his diet and do sport urgently!”.

Oh yes, the tiresome topic of sports! Carrying out sports games, competing against others or completing the specified exercises on the equipment – what is fun for adolescents causes problems in particular for overweight children and young people. They torture themselves before every gym class and invent a thousand excuses to get a gym exemption. Membership in a sports club? Also non-existent. And even in leisure time, exercise is usually neglected. And this would be so urgently needed!

How do you encourage sports objectors?

A Chinese proverb says: “Even the longest journey begins with the first step”. This old adage can be taken literally. Stop playing the chauffeur for your offspring and run to kindergarten or school instead. And if you don’t live in the mountains, you can easily cover the daily routes by bike. In this way, the sporting activity flows into everyday life quite incidentally, without being directly named as a “training unit”.

Sport has to be fun – no question about it. Find out what your child wants to do! Maybe it doesn’t like sports games, but would rather be out and about on inline skates. Girls like to go dancing or play badminton. Martial arts not only train the ability to react, but also convey self-confidence and self-confidence. Qualities that disadvantaged children in particular can urgently use. Sports clubs often offer taster sessions so that the youngsters can get to know a new sport without obligation. But beware: unfortunately, many clubs are very performance-oriented and the pressure that prevails there has an unfavorable effect on the children. But overweight kids in particular should first find fun in exercise again and not be rushed with the stopwatch on their necks.

Have you already leafed through the current information booklet of your adult education center? Courses specifically for children with increased body weight are offered in almost all larger cities. The kids don’t have to be ashamed here, because the other course participants are on a similar level and get out of breath just as easily. Very slowly, step by step, the condition is built up again and with more movement the kilos melt away. Every pound less on the scale is immediately noticeable and makes movement easier. In addition to adult education centers, health insurance companies sometimes offer sports programs for children as part of prevention. With regular participation, the costs are even reimbursed in full or in part.

The weekends and holidays can also be organized in an active way. In terms of sport, a beautiful bike tour makes it a worthwhile destination. Or go swimming together again ! Also a long hike – maybe with geocaching, the modern scavenger hunt, tempts those who don’t like exercise to get off the couch. It gets adventurous with a tour in a Canadian on the rivers or lakes in the area. A goal is important; something the kid enjoys and is worth butt lifting for. This can be a museum on the way or a great adventure playground. Or a picnic by the campfire. Maybe a friend would like to do more exercise as well. Lots of things are easier together and if there is enough to laugh about, then the movement happens quite casually.