What Can You Do to Help Kids Develop Overall Athleticism?

We want our kids to associate moving their bodies with joy. If there is something you can do with them that they like, i.e., hiking, swimming, biking, skateboarding, skiing, etc., even better!

"I have a 5-year-old daughter and a 6-year-old son. We don’t know what sports they will end up playing, but what things can we do to help their overall athleticism and prepare them for sports?"

Raising Kids to Compete and Win

Do everything and anything that promotes physical activity. At this age, I don’t suggest any organized sports unless it’s an individual sport, i.e., swimming or what we call puppy soccer, i.e., everyone just chases the ball around with no real objective but fun.

Sport is a combination of balance, hand-eye coordination and overall physical strength and coordination. You can work on balance with tap dance or just walking on walls or jumping from paver to paver. Hop scotch and jumping rope are my favorites.