How do you get kids to participate in sport? 
Being the parent of a teenager is no joke. I was born in an age (which seems ancient now, by the way) where the only phone was the old-fashioned dial phone. One had to turn the wheel for each number and then wait for a person to answer and to hand it over to the person being called. Years later, technology leapt and almost everyone has a smartphone in hand.
One of the mistakes my husband and I made was to buy our son, a mobile phone after he passed his secondary school. We thought it was necessary for him to have one because even his teachers send messages or even lesson plans through
apps like whatsapp.
What we did not realize is that he would become addicted to the mobile.
How do you get kids to participate in sport?
Nowadays, children are addicted to gadgets like the PC, mobiles, tablets and gaming consoles. Games, manga, anime. Even the youth are no better.
How to get them to play outdoor games or indoor board games? I had written a post earlier about educational toys. Toys or education tools like Rubix cube, board games like chess and scrabble are good enough and will certainly help to deviate the child away from the gadgets.
Outdoor games like badminton, ring tennis, frisbee ( that used to be a craze in our times) are good. Cycling can be developed as a serious sport. If you live near hilly regions, please take your child for a trek and let them experience the heavy exercise.
(The river Periyar - we had to trek to reach this point)
Involving your child in activities like fishing and farming will also help the child develop other skills as well.
Baseball, basketball and cricket are team sports. If your child is interested in it, you can guide and encourage them.
Single children are more prone to being addicted to the gadget. The parents may not have enough time to play with the children. In that case, make sure that his or her friends are invited over at least sometimes to play and have fun, outside.
Vitamin D deficiency
Those with less exposure to sunlight are found to have Vitamin D deficiency. Playing outside for a few hours is good for the overall health and development of children.
Competitions in sports can be held by local groups to develop an interest in children and to lead them away from gadgets. For example, local residency groups or clubs can hold sports contests. They can inform people by handing out pamphlets and also encourage participation by announcing prizes.
An important point to note is that the parents themselves must stay away from their gadgets while spending time with children. It should be a no gadget time zone.
Another thing a parent/guardian can do is to make sure that dinner time is gadget free. Remember that many people have had health complications because of mobile overuse. For example, neck pain.
Please write in the comment section below, what your idea would be to draw the children away from gadgets.
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