Lehigh98
Footballguy
We're definitely sports oriented and I let my kids play pretty much whatever they want (although my wife put her foot down about tackle football and I was fine with not fighting her about it, we just played a ton of flag) and encourage them to try new things. I have two boys, now 16 and 14 and they both started out around 3 or 4 with kiddie programs like soccer tots where its just physical activity and fun and games that are only barely related to the sport.
At around 5, I started cycling them each through different sports just to see if there was any one in particular they took a special interest in. As an aside, I highly recommend not doing a baseball league until they get up around the coach to kid pitch transition. Tee ball is so boring for everyone its no wonder MLB has been dropping in popularity. It's torture for all involved and made my older son totally disinterested in anything baseball related. I waited until later for my younger son and it worked out better but the game was still too slow for him.
The other thing that made it more fun for me / us is that I coached or assistant coached almost everything so we really did it together. Once they got up into higher level, paid soccer clubs it kind of passed me by there though but I still love watching their games.
We would basically play one sport a season but my younger son had so much energy he'd be bouncing off the walls without a practice or game so we let him double up. We'd be running around or carpooling to practices almost every day of the week. But again, with me coaching, it was really a family activity we were doing together. (And added bonus, it gave my wife a break when we were away for a while)
We cycled through soccer, flag football, basketball, baseball (too early / too slow / didn't take), lacrosse (too early, didn't take), swimming, golf, etc.
With my lack of coaching nowadays but still enjoying being close to kids sports, I just signed up to certify as a soccer referee (along with both my kids as their first jobs). We will get to do some games together when they're not reffing with friends and I plan on packing them all up to go and do some road trip tournaments when we can.
At around 5, I started cycling them each through different sports just to see if there was any one in particular they took a special interest in. As an aside, I highly recommend not doing a baseball league until they get up around the coach to kid pitch transition. Tee ball is so boring for everyone its no wonder MLB has been dropping in popularity. It's torture for all involved and made my older son totally disinterested in anything baseball related. I waited until later for my younger son and it worked out better but the game was still too slow for him.
The other thing that made it more fun for me / us is that I coached or assistant coached almost everything so we really did it together. Once they got up into higher level, paid soccer clubs it kind of passed me by there though but I still love watching their games.
We would basically play one sport a season but my younger son had so much energy he'd be bouncing off the walls without a practice or game so we let him double up. We'd be running around or carpooling to practices almost every day of the week. But again, with me coaching, it was really a family activity we were doing together. (And added bonus, it gave my wife a break when we were away for a while)
We cycled through soccer, flag football, basketball, baseball (too early / too slow / didn't take), lacrosse (too early, didn't take), swimming, golf, etc.
With my lack of coaching nowadays but still enjoying being close to kids sports, I just signed up to certify as a soccer referee (along with both my kids as their first jobs). We will get to do some games together when they're not reffing with friends and I plan on packing them all up to go and do some road trip tournaments when we can.