What is inappropriate? Regimes that need constant external pressure to keep children motivated. Regimes that cause them to get injured repeatedly. Or ones that the children don’t enjoy.  Or training modalities that are not suitable for the child’s age.

We’re talking about human children. Not insect larvae. They need to enjoy and thrive in the activity that they engage in. They need to grow, evolve and develop the capacity to choose their own path. That should be your goal. If they falter, you should be around for them to come back to, rest, reorient and retry.

There’s no need to be in a hurry. They have 80 years of life ahead of them. You’re just preparing the ground. Maybe the foundation. What they ultimately build, should be left to them.

*Don’t make them specialise too early*

Don’t make them play the exact same game or sport daily. It’s not time for it yet. If they’re playing the same sport daily because that’s what their friends are playing, that’s a different matter. It’s not just training for them. It is them having fun and socializing themselves. That should take precedence over “training”.

Teaching or training only one sport is like teaching only 1 note to a musician, when there are basically 7, with thousands of ragas. In the case of movement, the variety even in the basics, far surpasses what is possible with music. So, specialisation is taboo till they are at the cusp of adulthood.

Special mention about cricket- it does very little to improve athleticism by itself. It requires athletic ability, but it does not improve athleticism the way most other sports do. The hype network surrounding the sport will tend to drag your children into it. You will need to consciously provide a counterbalance to that whole ecosystem.

Early and inappropriate specialisation in one sport, happens with parents who are too fixated on a particular sport. Your job is to make sure that they have all-round fitness. Not to push them into cricket or football. In fact, if you find them becoming too fixated on a particular sport, it’ll be better if you try and show them other options. The exceptions being sports that involve a generalist approach and provide all-round physical capabilities; such as  Kabbadi, Kho Kho, and Dodgeball over Cricket. This is also, where martial arts training comes in.

For example, martial arts such as Karate, Kalari, Wrestling, silat, jiujitsu, or even MMA. Six years and upwards is the best time to get them started with martial arts and dance. Depending on their personal preference, you’ll have to arrange for either. If possible, both. Martial arts will improve their dance, and the dance will improve their martial arts skill. If your daughters are more interested in martial arts, count your lucky stars and encourage them as much as possible. Only if they absolutely refuse martial arts, should you give them an exemption. Again, participation is key. Join them in their classes. You might need to go along with them for a few months. Later on, you’ll find that they are interested enough to stay. Sometimes you’ll find that you are interested enough to stay.

*Don’t be too fixed in your ideas about what sort of physical training is needed.*

 

 This might look like I contradict my above point. However, it is just to underscore the necessity of letting your children choose what they want to do. Just ensure that they have physical activity and real-world play and exploration in their daily routine.

They need movement of all kinds. It needs to be fun.

*Never push children to exhaustion*

Don’t let them push themselves to exhaustion either. There will be some extremely motivated children who will do that on their own. Those children are pure gold, and it is your job to protect them till their bodies are ready to take that load.

Actually, never push any living thing to exhaustion, unless you hate it and want it to die earlier. That includes yourself.

When exhausted, children are more prone to make mistakes, fall or injure themselves. The muscular structure will also not be able to cushion impacts on the growing bone and cartilage. So long-distance running/cycling/swimming etc, for the sake of setting records, is a bad idea. The more intense the effort, the shorter it should be. Keep the sessions shorter than 40 minutes as a broad guideline. Sprints should be a part of games such as tag and hide and seek. Never as part of a structured regime, like sprint intervals or timed HIIT sessions. Trekking, cycling, and swimming can all be done, but take breaks every half an hour.

The emphasis should be on enjoying the outdoors, rather than covering a distance within a set time. Climbing would be preferable to long-distance endurance activities like Marathons, long-distance cycling or swimming. Trekking would be encouraged.

As you may have noticed from the above few paras, my emphasis has been to avoid repetitive strain injuries and injuries due to muscle imbalances or faulty movement patterns. Injuries due to falls, scrapes, and accidents, are expected. And it is our job as parents to minimise the risk on that front. Get them good safety gear, make sure their instructors are sensible, and always keep an eye on them from afar to make sure that they’re not taking extreme risks. Children are resilient and will bounce back quicker from injuries than adults. This is also why they need to be given the freedom to make mistakes and learn how to protect themselves. Your job will also involve showing them that most injuries are not permanent and that there is no need to live in fear of physical effort or pain. That’s an important life lesson. Not just a physical training lesson.