My Son Doesn’t Like Football

When a child doesn’t like football, he may have to face unpleasant situations at school. To alleviate this situation, the attitude of parents and also that of teachers is very important.

Before declaring with concern “my son doesn’t like football”, the ideal would be to ask: what things do you like? In fact, not all children are lovers of sports and physical activity. Therefore, it is necessary to investigate whether the child does not like sports in general or just football in particular.

If she doesn’t specifically like soccer, maybe there’s another sport she likes : swimming, basketball, tennis, baseball, or whatever.

The most important thing is for the child to practice some physical activity regularly. Among other reasons, for the beneficial effects on the overall health that they provide to children.

It is a culturally accepted idea that children must necessarily play football or play sports. Nowadays, a child who doesn’t play soccer is considered strange by his peers and by the environment in general.

Parents are often afraid to mention to their child what makes them different from others. In most cases, the issue is addressed indirectly, by trying to encourage you to play other sports.

If the child is forced to play sports he doesn’t like, it will lead to continual and successive failures. It may also happen that children try to discover their true interests on their own. They can even face sometimes difficult social, academic, recreational and family environments.

at school without playing football

If our child doesn’t like soccer or any other sport, it can be difficult to face the day to day at school. He will feel isolated and depressed, and will even be subject to bullying by his peers on many occasions. This will invariably have a negative effect on your personality, behavior and academic performance.

All human beings need to integrate to feel that they belong to something, be it a group or a community. This is especially important for children. Having friends at school with whom to share interests and activities will develop socialization and adaptation skills.

Of course, there are other kids with whom he shares interests. With them, he can play with other things and thus spend time in the playground.

Therefore, teachers play a very important role in promoting games and activities beyond football at school. It is certainly a smart way to integrate children and minimize the differences between them that occur because of their sporting and recreational preferences.

My child doesn’t like football: how can I help him?

To help integrate a child who doesn’t like soccer, you can follow some tips:

• We must not force it, question it or criticize it.
• First, we should investigate whether the discontent has the following causes: you don’t understand how it works, you don’t know the ground rules, find it boring, or other reasons.
• We will rule out that she has had a negative experience in the past, in which she felt stressed or pressured.
• We will show that not all people have the same skills. Tastes, preferences and abilities vary from child to child. Some are agile, some are strong, some have excellent marksmanship.
• It is necessary to help her discover her own physical abilities. Maybe she doesn’t like team sports because she prefers individual sports. Discovering this is part of a parent’s job.

• Swimming, diving, running, skating, gymnastics, golf, tennis, martial arts… these are all individual sports that will keep your child active.

On the other hand, it is necessary to consider that there are many activities that she can do that can help her to avoid sedentary lifestyle, thus benefiting her health. For example, playing in the school yard, dancing, jumping, playing hide and seek, etc.

So, we should analyze with her the possibility of doing activities outside school that are not related to football. This will allow her to develop her skills and abilities beyond sport. Also, in other settings, the child will find new friends with similar interests, such as music, painting or theatre.

Tips for parents

It is not just the children who will have to face the challenge of not giving in to the “pressure” of the environment. Older people can feel it too. In these cases, it is convenient:

1. Don’t give in to pressure from other parents and ignore comments made because our child doesn’t play football.
2. Recognize that it is normal for our child not to enjoy football or even any other sport.
3. Parents are responsible for constantly reinforcing their children’s self-esteem, confidence and self- respect.
4. Football is just a sport. The child may have many skills and abilities, so it is necessary to help him discover and strengthen them.

Finally, it ‘s a good idea to discover a new activity together to share and have fun with the family. After all, if your child has your support, it will be much easier for him to assert his position and rights without any problems.