Is sport really that important?

Geesje (34) lives with Theo (37) and is mother of Mats (9) and Milan (6).

“Team spirit. Collaboration and social behavior. Learning to deal with disappointments and to excel. My friend Theo knows why our boys should play football. Or on hockey, or handball, for his part. As long as it is a sport, and preferably a team sport. He has been playing football since he was five. It is inconceivable that that is not part of your life as a man, he thinks.

To play sports

But Mats and Milan don’t want to. They want to tinker and cuddle and meet up with other children – but preferably outside of sports. So it’s fine with that collaboration and social behavior. We cycle to school every day, Milan still has swimming lessons; they also exercise enough. So I don’t see the need for sports, and I certainly don’t want to push my children to do something that makes them very unhappy.

Theo looks at it with sorrow. On weekends, he regularly tries to kick a ball with them in the backyard. But within two seconds Milan flees back inside, and Mats has found the sidewalk chalk and is coloring again.

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frolic

They are always ready for a game of frolic. So that’s a regular after dinner every night. Also all social behavior and exercise, I tell Theo. In the meantime, he has just resigned himself to the situation. At the same time, my conscience feels remorse: is sport really so important for children if we offer them alternatives?”

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