As childhood obesity rates continue to rise, and with a whole host of electronic gadgets offering countless distractions to our little-ones, (organized sports) for kids is reemerging as a fantastic way to keep your children both active and engaged in a healthy lifestyle.

The advantages of leading a life filled with physical pursuits are well established. For kids, these advantages can be magnified.

Many health problems associated with aging, in fact, have their roots in a childhood spent idle. Engaging in organized sports as a child has been shown to cut the risk of contracting many serious illnesses in later life; such as diabetes, heart problems, and even some cancers.

But apart from the well known physical benefits of engaging in (organized sports), kids who routinely play in team competitions have been shown to gain valuable psychological and social skills from the experience.

 

 

Team work, strong communication, and a strong ability to forward-plan are some of the skills that children can master by attending a good quality sports program; giving them a head start on their less active peers. But the abundance of benefits doesn’t stop there.

Studies have shown that the development of key decision-making faculties in the brain is stronger in those children who have engaged with organized sports from an early age. Rates for drinking alcohol, smoking, and drug abuse are also far lower amongst adults who had played sports regularly as teens.

In short, there are many factors to raising a happy and healthy child. No single ingredient can guarantee your child will live a long and successful life. But one thing that can be shown through years of overwhelming evidence is that kids who take up sports in childhood are more likely to exercise regularly in early adulthood and beyond.

Now isn’t that something we could all do with a bit more of.