SPARC active movement - part 7: organised sport for children

ACTIVE FUN IN THE COMMUNITY - ORGANISED SPORT FOR CHILDREN

Why is organised sport for children so important?
Organised sport helps to get children out and about, and contributes to setting up lifelong enjoyment and participation in sport and recreation. Participating in organised sport creates helps to encourage children to start being active for life.

Getting children physically active is brilliant for their health, happiness and learning.

What are the benefits of organised sport for children?
There are many benefits for children who participate in organised sport and activity. There are the physical benefits – healthy bones, bodies and cardiovascular systems and reducing the risk of future health problems. Organised sport and activity also helps children to control their movement and coordination.

Can I check my diary and get back to you???

I spent a couple of days in the Gold Coast recently at a wedding, my wife and I left Pyper with her grandparents that was really hard for us, and I was excited to get her as soon as possible, it looked like she had grown and was different then when we left her 5 days ago.

Stay at Home Dad - Tennis anyone?

Hi,

I have just given up Full Time work and am currently on about 6 months Parential Leave to look after my 4 month old son. I have taken over my partners Maturnity leave for the balance of 12 months, she has been back at work now for two weeks.

These last couple of weeks have been great! Been at home most of the time but find I have sometimes up to a couple of hours a day when I can pop out for a while.

Activites for kids by age

Do you ever wonder what age is suitable to start a particular activity / sport with kids ... well here is a list we compiled based on information from sports clubs and organisations:

5 reasons why sending your kid to football (soccer) practice is a good idea

Now that the FIFA football worldcup is at a crucial point we thought it's a good idea to show our support for the game by encouraging parents to send their kids to football practice so that future teams have got lots of talented players to send to the world cup :-) This is particularly important for the All Whites, Socceroos and the US team (whatever they are called?!?) as football is sadly not the #1 sport in New Zealand, Australia and the USA. So here's our cheeky list of reasons why parents should send their kids to football practice:

1) Football players make heaps more money than any other sport-pros
2) Unlike Cricket or Curling, Football is not boring ... so having to sit through hundreds of matches watching your little champ play is not going to do your head in

SPARC Active Movement - Part 4: Developing fine motor skills

Why are fine motor skills important?
Fine motor skills are important because children need them for activities like writing, playing instruments and playing sport later in their lives.

Once a child can hold a pencil or cricket bat without having to think of "how" to hold it, they can then concentrate on what they are going to write, or how they are going to hit the ball with the bat. This is called automaticity, which is the ability to do something without thinking about it.

It's important to note that being active isn't just about doing full-on physical things and playing sport. It's anything and everything involved in moving your body and having body awareness. For example, in younger children it's about knowing where their fingers are and what they can do.

SPARC aims to develop the skills in our children to be active and healthy from a holistic perspective – so it's about food and lifestyle too.

Dads & Daughters Part 2 - Article

Being a father I find it easy to relate to my daughter because I haven't had a son before and enjoy being in the company of women in general! For my little lady, I hope I can be "special, strong, reliable and trusted male in her life"

What "we as fathers" can do is the following:

* Take an interest in her life, making sure I know the names of friends, interests etc

* Play sport with her and being physically active with her

* Don't be too protective of her – this is something that is going to be hard – she is my little princess and I need to protect her from the world. I can hear the song "Macho Macho Man, Who wants to be a Macho Man??" hmm ...

* If you have a son don't place more restrictions on her because of this.

* Being available for one-to-one conversations. Be the listener and not the talker.

* Do things together. Go to her sports events and other such activities

* Drive her to school etc