Bats again

I don't find it difficult to understand starting kids in baseball(or other sports for that matter) at the age of 5 or 6... and in most cases I agree with beginning at that young of an age. Today, with such busy households that have 2 working parents and so many single parents, there is a need for young children to have something for themselves... a place to be at set times during the week... a set group of kids to do it with... and the structured setting to do it in. For some kids, this is the highlight of their week... they REALLY look forward to practice and games... and it's much better for them than another evening of TV and video games.

We live in a rural area without a neighborhood full of kids to play with. When my son was in Kindergarten we signed him up for coach pitch and he thrived on it... he loved the game, the friends, the practices, the after game treats at the concession stand... he revered his uniform and he loved having a number... and his end of season trophy went everywhere with him-- he slept with it, watched TV with it, ate his meals with it... it went everywhere in the car with him, he even took it in for show and tell... he took to organized baseball like a duck to water. After baseball ended I asked him if he wanted to play soccer--he said no--I was sure it was because he didn't know what it was so I told him he'd have a uniform and get a trophy... so he decided to play... and he loved it too... though never quite as much as baseball ;)

For a lot of kids, physical activity patterns and healthy lifestyles are somewhat set by the time they're 8 or 9. I can't imagine denying my son the joy of the game and the friends and comaraderie that he experienced from age 5 to 9 that he found in organized sports. He has no neighborhood full of kids for pick-up games... and kids don't even do that anymore for the most part... they watch too much TV and play too many video games in their spare time. Waiting until age 9 may have worked for your son, but there are multitudes of kids out there that really benefit from starting organized sports at age 5 or 6.

Kathy