Thanks for sending your children for sports at Shaws Little League for fun and learning here in Singapore - holiday camps too.

You may have read our recent articles regarding preparation, confidence and dealing with winning and losing over the last few weeks.

For this week, I want to share a bit about my personal life and about how I engage with my children through sports and games.

My two children are now aged 11 and 9 and when time and weather permits, we spend an amount of time playing and engaging in sports and games – tennis, golf, cricket, soccer, rugby, just taking a ball to the park, bike rides, jogging/sprinting, family workouts, 8 ball, board games, etc…

I find playing sports and games with my children is very fulfilling and it sure beats checking their homework and school projects. It has also helped me learn and develop a lot as a parent too.

Here are my tips for engaging in sports and games with your child:

– Play to their level, no need be condescending and belittle them

– Reward them for effort – giving 100% for a while deserves a victory, right?

– Children do not need to know how amazing you are or were – they already know you can run faster than them, are stronger than them, smarter than them

– Live and play by those values that you wish your children to have

– Children do look up to you – your conduct and behavior and not necessarily your performance – remember this when they are watching you play competitively – how you interact with referees, teammates, disappointment and success

– Take the game “deep” – it allows more opportunities for practice, thinking and learning

– Help, mentor and guide them – share your experiences and learnings

– Sport may not be for everyone but the learning from sport is for all kids

– Laugh with them, not at them

– Enjoy the after-match and look forward to the next encounter

– It’s okay to win sometimes!

See you all at Shaws Little League for more toddler sports fun and big kid sports fun too.

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