By Staff
I don't know about anybody else, but when the temperature reaches 50 degrees or higher around here, my whole attitude changes.
Don't get me wrong I love winter, but when February hits I get antsy for the warm weather.
This past week has been wonderful! And who couldn't ask for a better spring break? For some reason I remember mine always being cold with either rain or snow, or both.
With the weather being so nice, I have been outside a lot. Doing yard work, covering sports, exercising, all those fun outdoors projects.
I can definitely say I'm not alone.
I live by quite a few parks and have noticed they have been overloaded with children and parents playing on the park equipment, flying kites, having picnics, climbing trees, walking their pets and so on.
In the evenings the parks are filled with soccer, baseball and softball leagues from the area practicing for the start of their seasons. I have yet to see an empty park.
I wrote a column a while back talking about how big sports are in this area and anyone can see why.
I'm sure the parks around here are full every year at this time, but this is the first year I have really noticed and payed attention to it.
Eastside Park, Plym Park, Hunter-Saathoff Park, all of the elementary schools, even the little baseball field right by the police station has teams out every night practicing. And that's only half of the places I have seen them.
We live in a very fortunate area for sports. Children are always encouraged to play them and can start playing most of them in kindergarten. I've even seen some sports offered to preschool children.
Not only do these leagues provide entertainment for this area, but more importantly it keeps kids safe, gives them something to do rather than sitting around munching on snacks in front of the television all day, keeps them in shape and is something fun for them to do.
Children need exercise just as much as adults do. Their bodies are always growing and keeping them active is a big plus.
Everyone knows what happens when children don't exercise or eat well. It leads to future problems.
If your child has no interest whatsoever in sports, let them go in the yard or to the park to run and play. Or take them to a practice and let them watch what goes on or get in the backyard and teach them yourself.
They may become interested once they actually understand how these sports are played.
Another thing I have noticed is that a lot of leagues are not keeping scores for younger children. Excellent idea!
When I was younger scores were always kept and that can really upset a child if they were on a losing team.
Not only that, but the star player usually got all the recognition leaving the other players in the blue. So when I found out a lot of them have thrown scoring out the window, I was very pleased and I know a lot of parents were too.
It's never too late to get your children involved in sports. If they missed registration this year, there is always next year and there are always sports offered with the changing of the seasons. You can even form your own little league with the neighborhood children!
Good luck to all teams this season and most importantly have fun!