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Put Me In, Coach
Is Your Preschooler Ready for Organized Sports?
By Alexandria Powell
Christiansen, a father of three, knew his 4-year-old son was ready to start soccer when he started asking to go to practice with his older sister. If your child has expressed an interest in a sport, he's probably ready to try it out.
And if your preschooler stops having fun, it's OK to let them quit. "They are interested in many things and want to experiment, and parents should let them," Stahl says. "At that age, I don't think focusing on lessons about not quitting is important at all."
Dillon agrees. "They aren't dropouts, they're just trying activities on for size," she says. "See if your child can try out a class or group for free first, or find out if the organization that is running it will refund you if you drop out."
Sign your preschooler up for sports, and you'll be expending time, money and possibly more effort than your little athlete. Is it worth it? Christiansen thinks so, especially because of the satisfaction he gets from seeing their faces at the end of a game. "There's nothing like seeing all those kids," he says. "They're all smiling whether they won or lost, because they really don't care, and they've got sweat running down their faces. And they're all sitting there with a drink and a snack, and they're just all happy because they got a snack. And that's it."
