A new study has found that being involved in sports can help children develop “grit,” which will help them in adult life. Sports and other recreational activities have always been beneficial to the health and wellbeing of youth in multiple ways. It gives children a reason to get out and get active, but it also helps them socially.
It helps them learn how to be part of a team, how to work with others and how to foster a healthy dose of competitiveness. It teaches them how to lose graciously, win fairly and how to persevere through the challenging times that they may encounter.
According to Medical Xpress, a new study has been done that has found that being involved in sports can help children build a sense of “grit” that can help them in adulthood.
The study was done by The Ohio State University, and it can be read in full here. They found that this sense of grit can help them overcome challenges as adults. When we look at grit, it is defined as the combination of passion and perseverance that can help people achieve their lifelong goals.
- What they found was that adults who played sports in childhood scored higher on the measurement of grit when compared to adults who didn’t play any sports as a child.
- Researchers have stated that the lessons children learn when they play sports can have a positive impact on the rest of their lives.
- They learn what it is like to struggle as they try to learn new skills.
This is important, as parents often try and shield their children from anything that is hard, or difficult. This study should prove as a reminder that it is a good thing for your child to struggle, as they learn how to cope with it and come out stronger on the other end.
That is because when they learn how to struggle through sports, they also learn how to overcome those challenges and “bounce back” when they fail again. It is easy to see how these skills can be beneficial when they are adults. However, the study also showed that adults who took up sports later in life still developed this grit. This is good news if your child isn't playing a sport yet, it is not too late. They can still reap the benefits from sports as an older child or a teenager.
Sources: Medical Xpress, T & F Online