A Montreal Gazette story on six tips for fostering a love of sports in children mentioned a York study that examined how to keep children engaged in sport. The Nov. 29 story quotes the work of Professor Jessica Fraser-Thomas:

You signed your kids up for organized sport in hopes of keeping them active. But there's more to keeping kids in the game than buying gear and driving them to practices.

. . .

There's no doubt that parental support and encouragement keep kids in sport, but there's a line between support and pressure that parents should avoid crossing.

That line isn't well defined, but a York University study of athletes who dropped out of a sport and those who stayed in offered a surprising picture of when parents should push and when they should back off.

According to lead researcher Jessica Fraser-Thomas, all the athletes in the study considered dropping out of sport. Those who did noted that their parents forced them to continue even as their interest waned. Whereas the children who chose to stay in sport, did so after exploring their options with their parents. Allowing your child the freedom to take an occasional practice off or to adjust their training schedule while still encouraging them to remain active seems to be a winning formula.

Republished courtesy of YFile– York University’s daily e-bulletin