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Playing smart and safe

An injured child should be dealt with sympathetically

Your child got injured while playing football or cricket. It isn't a small bump on the forehead we are talking about. Maybe it is a cracked bone.

How do you react as a parent?

For most parents, even a middling serious injury is a frightening thing, and it often leads to a phase of over-protective behaviour that effectively ends the child's involvement in sport.

Some parents go the other way. They belittle their children for crying over bumps and bruises. For such parents, their behaviour is all about toughening their kid up for sports and for life itself.

Child's point of view

From a child's point of view, how a parent reacts is very important. If a parent is not supportive when he is injured, it can affect the child's self esteem and it can also affect the child's enjoyment of the sport in future. Children are poor judges of their own injuries' severity, and a child of parents with "tough" attitude will play on with a serious injury instead of seeking medical attention.

Parents should always be caring and protective; they should always acknowledge the child's fears and anxieties and provide emotional support. This will help the child feel comfortable in attempting the sport again. Children have hidden fears, and a sympathetic attitude is more likely to bring them out.

Parents should learn to be objective about their child's injuries. A cracked bone is not the end of the world: children have an amazing capacity for physical regeneration and healing, and sport remains a wonderful long term tool for ensuring health and physical fitness.

Parents can help by analysing why the injury happened and by getting the child some protective equipment. Perhaps the child needs a professional coach to play the game right and safely. Parents can help best by working behind the scenes to make sport safer for their children.

For parents, their child's safety should always be more important than building up a "tough guy" mindset. Children who learn to play safely will eventually learn to take acceptable physical risks, and that will ensure a long and productive career in sports. Tough guys are not fools, and playing smart is playing safe.

RAJIV M

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