Did your parents regularly let you quit sports as a child?
- Shea Harrison
- Mar 31
- 1 min read
Are you someone who signs up to a gym or a sport then within a few weeks you don't enjoy going and stop? š
If this sounds like you I'd love you to think back to your childhood and whether you regularly played sports as a child, or if you started then quit or didn't even play at all? š
If the answer is you didn't regularly play sports as a child, or were allowed to quit after 1 season/ term, this could be the reason why you struggle šµāš« to push past those first few weeks of exercise as an adult.
A Norwegian study found there is a high rate of leisure time physically activity in adults who regularly played sports as a child. As such we can see that this causation may also be applied in reverse to adults who didn't play at all, or quit. š¤Æ
So maybe the answer to loving exercise is to look to your childhood, and putting a stop to the little inner voice that is telling you to quit. š
Shea xx
Study summary available here (https://psycnet.apa.org/doiLanding?doi=10.1037%2Fa0029465)
I wanted to play basketball but I got told I wouldn't be able to handle it because of my asthma so I never even got to give it a go. I also liked hockey but wasn't allowed give that a go either.
It was just ridiculous because I was good at hockey when we played it at school, so I don't know why I was so discouraged to give it a go outside of school!
My sister did netball, little athletics, horse riding and occasionally volleyball.