Going From the Couch to the Court

As a parent, it can be frustrating to watch your child burn away his or her retinas in front a computer or television screen. On your sports team website, you should explore the issue and consider ways to temper video games and TV. A youngster who grows accustomed to hitting the couch when he or she gets home from school will inevitably fall into bad habits, lethargy, laziness and unhealthiness.

Recommending that your child go out for sports is a great way to replace the temptation for video games with something positive. It will allow the kid to burn off the energy not used during school hours in a fun and productive manner.

Uprooting the issue

Watching TV and playing video games is perfectly normal, but when done to excess, it can turn into a addiction-like problem. Ideally, you should be setting strict limits of when video games are permissible, and under what circumstances. By encouraging your student to tryout for a team, you will be offering a replacement for the couch-based activity, as well as a potential qualifying condition - joining a club or school team can be rewarded with video game time.

Be a role model

Offer to participate in an athletic activity, instead of demanding that your child go outside. Take him or her to the park for a catch, go for a run together, play some pick-up basketball.

Take the group approach

If it’s the case that a group of kids are all gaming together after school, you can use the same mentality as prescribed above, but with the whole group. If they are guaranteed a couple of friends will join them in the pursuit of a roster spot, they will be much more likely to take on the challenge. Plus, if they all make the team, they will still have similar schedules and time frames in which they can play video games together.

Real rewards versus perceived ones

Above all, emphasize how satisfying it is to compete in a real game, against real opponents, with real stakes on the line. Stress the thrill of it all. Underline how rewarding it is to work at something, to sweat and to give everything you have.

Rather than allowing your child to turn into a couch potato, insist on team sports - and use a team sport website to publish that attitude.