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I have two children a 3 and 5 year old. The 3 year old has multiple medical issues (not life threatening just lifestyle changing, activity limiting). He is amazing independent and naturally athletic. He swims, he does gymnastics and has now started soccer. (he does require rest periods). Unfortunately his older brother who is almost 6 is needy and very unathletic. Because there is no male in the house we have just started soccer in a 3-5 year old group. He will be 6 in March. A maybe 4 yr old bumped into him and he dramatically fell down and started crying. He cried when he kicked the ball the wrong way, he cried when he wanted to stop playing. Meanwhile his brother has the ball and scores a goal. Technically he should be with the 6-8 year olds but they are HUGE and if he cant handle the 3-5 I can only imagine the meltdown. So I don't want him to be put in a situation where he doesn't do well but I have yet to find an area in which he can excell. He did show good form riding horses but that is sooo expensive. And he has no interest in taking care of the horse. So I am thinking karate, boy scouts but I am having trouble finding appropriate groups locally. There are groups about 40 min away but I work 7p-8a so its hard. Any suggestions on activities. I want to find something he can excell at and feel good about.
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Does he like non-sporty things? Games like chess, or crafts, story writing or even gardening? There are kids clubs for those in my area, along with Badgers/St Johns, Scouts, Guides etcWith martial arts, would he do better with a very contact discipline (like Judo) or one with little contact apart from sparring and competitions? Would he cope with being thrown on the floor by somebody else?
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My son with Asperger's greatly benefited from Taekwondo. It helped his attention span and his self esteem.
I kept my son out of tournaments, only practice. It was good excersize for the mind and body without the pressure of competition. They also did a little meditation which did wonders with his ability to self control.
My daughter also was in Taekwondo, she is more athletic. She also loved it.
If he likes physical activity I think I'd focus on the more solitary sports for now and as his confidence builds, he might branch out to more group sports if he enjoys it enough.Bowling, archery, golf & karate come to mind off the top of my head. Karate is a great self esteem builder. All my boys benefitted from it and at the beginning levels, there is no contact sparring so that wouldn't be a concern.On the non athletic front, what about your local boys & girls club with a male mentor if you feel he'd benefit from that? Do you have a local YMCA or rec center that offers non sport activities like art or game clubs? What about a local theatre club? Music or voice lessons? Choir group? Does the elementary school offer any clubs after school he could take advantage of?
Don't forget dance, it's not just for girls. My second son does do ballet, but he also does jazz and tap and his current favorite, Clogging. My oldest son started doing hip hop and a couples class (to get ready for prom, but he liked it so he stayed) The clogging has been great excersize. There is something here called little dribblers, where it starts out as not really basketball, they do dribbling and shooting, and they learn some cute tricks, but no actual games the first year.
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Do you have any health clubs nearby? We have one close by us that offers swimming, tumble classes, tennis, camps, etc. They have so many programs that they offer for the younger kids like your son. They also offer yoga for kids and there are boys that always attend. We also have a local YMCA that offers most of the same classes.
Chrissy
I was going to suggest golf as well. I don't know about your area but there are very reasonably priced classes for kids at the public courses in my area.
And did anybody else mention hiking and/or rock climbing? We have an indoor rock climbing gym close by that has classes starting pretty young.
:)
My non athletic son does dance, gymnastics, theater and swimming. I was just talking to him about how a couple of those are going to have to go next year when he starts first grade! We did try soccer and it was a total disaster. Very similar to what you described. I half wonder if its not really unathletic issues but issues with a bunch of uncoordinated boys running at him and not "sharing" or taking turns that put him over the top. It was clear from the first two practices that he wasn't gonna make it through the season!
DS seems to better at things that require an organized plan of attack. The theater class in particular that DS is in is a very good fit. No one is spectacularly good and everyone takes turns saying their lines and dances coodinated. The entire thing is just more organized than a soccer game!
Age 6 is a good time to start a boys gymnastics class but I wouldn't put him a mixed girls and boys class. I bet you can find a local martial arts class for his age. Think of sports and activities that do not involve chaos and I bet he will do much better!
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