Benefits of Sports for Kids’ Minds and Hearts

Amy Roegler and her husband, Octavio Herrera, live with their young kids, Jake and Alyssa, in Los Angeles. When it comes to pro baseball, they’re all Dodgers fans. And Jake loved balls even as a baby, Octavio says.

“We have a picture of him as a 3-month-old with a little Dodger jersey and a glove,” Octavio says. “So he was definitely going to be introduced to sports early, and he took to it right away.” Today 10-year-old Jake is on his baseball league’s All-Star team.

Meanwhile his sister, 8-year-old Alyssa, has a passion for gymnastics. She, too, was a natural, her parents say — swinging on the monkey bars at age 2 and practicing splits on a balance beam today.

The parents know that the physical exercise their kids are getting is good for their health. But that’s not their only motivation for encouraging the children to participate in organized athletics.

Click here to read the full post.