The social skills of the child are encouraged enormously, especially in team sports such as basketball, football, or hockey, but also in certain individual sports such as running or martial arts. A team only works well when all members care about each other, and the child learns this very quickly – if you don’t participate well in the team, you won’t be fully accepted either. But in any sport, even a sport such as boxing or wrestling, where the goal is triumph over an opponent, the child learns to respect and reverence for others, as well as care for and helping others when they are in trouble or have injured themselves. In addition, there is the playful competition between the children, which motivates them to learn more about themselves and to try as hard as possible so that they are recognized and accepted by others in the group. Furthermore, regular behavior can also be trained during sport. In general, therefore, sport serves as an important social factor through which a child can learn a lot in this regard.
Sport can also be playfully integrated into your child’s everyday life. Be it in the form of badminton games or ball kicks with mum and dad, playing with friends on the soccer field, or even as a game at a children’s birthday party – sport can be integrated playfully into children’s everyday life from an early age as an important part of healthy development.
Exercise, play, and sport affect children’s mental health on three levels:
- on a biological level, the movement promotes the neuronal development of the child and has a positive effect on various brain functions.
- on a psychological level, experiences of self-efficacy and competence promote a positive self-concept in the child.
- on a social level, sport is an almost inexhaustible field of experimentation for personality development.
From all these factors it can be deduced that sports experts can help children very well to lead a successful social life. Movement strengthens social skills and exercise under the supervision and with additional external animation reinforces this effect.
