Practicing sports as a family is not only a fun leisure plan, but it has countless benefits for everyone, including the strengthening of the parent-child bond, and the positive impact on our health, both physical and emotional.
But What sports are best suited to do with children? Today we give you some ideas depending on your age, as well as the benefits that the practice of each of these physical activities brings. Ready, Set, Go!
Running
More and more people are signing up for runnning; a sport that not only "hooks" but you can also practice from the beginning with your baby, thanks to the cart models for runner parents that you can find in the market.
As your child grows, you can initiate you in the practice of this sport participating, for example, in solidarity or charity careers (in which they will also learn the importance of joining efforts to contribute to a good cause), as well as in family marathons that frequently organize town halls, institutions or schools to commemorate a date or give importance to the practice of family sports.
There is no age to start running with children, although they usually begin to appreciate this sport from the age of six or seven. If you run with your child it is important maintain a rhythm according to its resistance, start small and take special care of your footwear.
Trekking
Same as him runningWhen our child is young we can go hiking by carrying him in an ergonomic backpack, which allows him to enjoy nature and our skin-to-skin contact. As you grow, you can join our routes, taking into account both the duration of the same and the degree of difficulty of the terrain.
Footwear, clothing and the weight of their backpacks are essential to practice this sport safely, which will also help the little ones to know all the details of the natural environment, its flora and fauna.
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In addition to being one of the activities preferred by children, cycling is a very complete sport, as it is beneficial for the heart and helps improve coordination.
Therefore, if distance and weather permit, we should incorporate the bicycle into our daily routine, adopting it as a usual means of transport, both to go to school, to visit the family, go shopping, or move from one place to another.
If the child is accustomed to riding a bike frequently, we can take advantage of weekends to make routes through the countryside and enjoy an excellent family leisure plan. It is also possible to ride a bike through urban environments, provided that it is done through the lane enabled for it and traffic rules are respected. Remember, also, the importance of equipping the child with a good helmet to avoid accidents in case of fall.
Rollerblading
There are many families who decide to point their children to skating because of the multiple benefits that this sport brings, as it helps improve balance, coordination and body expression.
As is the case in most sports disciplines, the age of onset will depend on the child's motor skills and abilities, although skating is usually started from the age of five or six.
As if riding a bicycle, the skating child must have all the necessary protections, on the head, elbows, knees and wrists, to avoid injuries in the event of a fall.
Swimming
It is very important that children learn to swim as soon as possible, in order to reduce the risk of accidents in the water. Therefore, if the pediatrician recommends it, after five or six months we can attend matronation classes with our baby, an excellent activity that will help you become familiar with the aquatic environment and acquire the necessary skills to learn to swim later.
Swimming has endless benefits for our body. When we swim, a large number of muscles of the upper, lower limbs, abdomen and back intervene, helping us strengthen them, make them more flexible and gain resistance.
Being an aerobic sport, we will be helping our circulatory and respiratory system, strengthening the heart and lungs. In addition, we will favor postural alignment, mitigating, on many occasions, backaches.
When the child has learned to swim correctly and develops easily in the water, we can practice Family water sports, such as water polo; a very fun activity, which will also bring great benefits to our health.
Tennis
Tennis, as well as other racket sports, benefits coordination and agility (especially eye-hand coordination), in addition to helping to control the force with which they hit the ball, improving the domain of spaces and distances.
From the age of five or six, children already begin to be prepared at the psychomotor level to play tennis, and family doubles matches can be an especially fun leisure alternative.
Basketball
Unlike football, basketball is a sport that allows very few players to have a great time, so it is perfect for family enjoyment. In addition, it is very easy to find sports courts on the streets to practice this activity, or even install a basket in the garden of your home.
Among the many skills that his practice requires stands out the speed, agility and coordination, especially the oculus-manual and foot coordination.
We can teach children to practice basketball from an early age, and to enjoy a family game, either in the one-on-one mode, doubles or full teams of five players.
Yoga
Yoga is a highly recommended practice, both for the body and for the mind, and the little ones can also benefit from it. It gives them strength, mobility and elasticity, something very important for their developing muscles and bones, and of course, it also helps them relax and recharge their energies.
Children can start practicing yoga after three or four years, and although there are specialized centers that offer family yoga classes, from home we can begin to instill this discipline with simple postures, which we will gradually vary as they go Showing receptive
The good thing about this sport is that we don't need anything to practice it. Just a cozy and quiet corner, relaxing music and a mat.
Dance
In addition to being a very fun activity, dancing has multiple health benefits, as it helps to relieve stress, burn excess body fat and keep our skeleton, muscles and heart in shape.
We can dance with our babies while we carry them, or sign up with them to "Music and movement" classes where in addition to favoring their body expression, they will learn to identify the different musical rhythms.
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Gymnastics
Gymnastics focused on fitness and aerobic exercise It is another of the sports that we can practice with children, and that will help them improve elasticity, flexibility, balance and coordination.
Children can begin to practice gymnastics at a very early age, although to avoid injuries it is important that we perform the exercises under specialized supervision. When we have enough knowledge we can practice gymnastics anywhere, such as in our house or outdoors, but always respecting the limits of the child, his degree of flexibility and physical strength.
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