Mobiles have added to the tendency of people to stay indoors that was set among our children already by the increasing pressure of competitiveness in academics.
As a result, if you wish for your child to have an all-round development, you must encourage them to take part in outdoor activities. While lots of outdoor activities are good alternatives to the indoor mobile games like PUBG and Angry Birds; sports are obvious favorites as besides provide physical exercise, they have a sense of adventure and excitement to them which makes them enjoyable and also develop qualities that would be developed with much more difficulty in other spheres. And please note that when we say ‘children’, we do not mean ‘boys’ but rather all your children – the lack of encouragement to women in sports is deemed responsible by many studies for their physical weakness later on; often leading to many muscular and bone disorders rather common in our society.
We thus bring you a list of some of the outdoor sports you can encourage your child to try their hands at.:
1. Cricket
Cricket has several advantages – especially in comparison to other team sports such as Soccer, hockey, etc. Its fields can be highly flexible (from rounder ones to straight ones of gully cricket) and its instruments of play are easily acquired and fitted (unlike say basketball hoop). It also has advantages arising out of the popularity of the game in the country – children can more easily find their heroes in the game, coaching opportunities, and other players. The game helps a lot in developing qualities like temperament, team spirit, etc.
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However, cricket is far less spontaneous and it is called a gentleman’s game for a reason – it doesn’t tire you a lot as much of it just involves just standing around as field waiting for ball to come your way or worse still sitting in pavilion and thus does not do much to your child’s stamina.
2. Basketball
Basketball is increasingly gaining popularity in schools and colleges. The matches can be shortened or increased according to agreement by players. Besides team spirit, the game encourages the development of the presence of mind, quick decision making due to its spontaneous nature. It helps your child in building stamina with constant running around involved in it. However, the game provides some obvious advantage to a taller player and this must be kept in mind while deciding on whether you want to encourage your child in this game.
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3. Tennis
A game that can be played both solo and in teams of two, tennis is increasingly gaining popularity in India because of spectacular performances of our plays in international events and increasing consciousness of people wanting to find options beyond cricket. The requirements of the game are easy to obtain. It encourages the quality of the quick presence of your mind and the physical fitness of your child.
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To sum, we shall add that while encouraging your child, you do not pressure them too much to excel.