There’s a lot of hype nowadays about kid power and how children are influencing key household purchase decisions. However, while this seems to be true, it doesn’t translate into child power or involvement in other walks of life. Kids are rarely involved in key decision-making and are seldom given the opportunity to become leaders of local community programmes. Adults assume they know best and seldom give children the opportunity to develop leadership skills and confidence.

A story I read sometime ago reminded me of how smart kids are and how un-smart adults can be especially when it comes to sports and learning from sports.

An adult volunteer was coaching a group of young girls in baseball, and hard as he tried, he could not get the girls to execute a proper over-handed throw. They just kept pushing the ball forward instead of throwing it. As the amateur coach’s frustration began to boil over, one of the girls suggested that they get down on their knees and throw. To the coach’s amazement, this strategy worked! As an adult, he had a fixed way of doing things and in spite of his lack of success, was unwilling to experiment with a new approach. Too often, the adult ego refuses to accept that kids tend to be unencumbered by historical baggage and precedents and thus are able to solve some problems better than adults.

As I continue to write on the theme of helping kids get the most out of their extra-curricular experiences, I am more convinced than ever that one way of doing this is to put them in charge as much as possible. Their minds are less rigid and more open to new experiences and thinking-outside-the-box strategies than our creaky, old adult brains. But kids need opportunities and support to develop their mental agility. Just as we expose kids to various sports, music and other activities, it is important to expose them to opportunities to develop creativity, take charge and solve problems.

For example, in my day (granted, it was a very long time ago) children’s sports were very informal. There was no such thing as pitching machines for seven and eight-year-olds or paid consultants to help kids fine-tune their swing. We organised our own baseball, football and basketball games — on dirt fields, grass, or sometimes under the glow of streetlights at night. We taught each other how to play; we chose our own teams, called our own plays and kept score. If there were disputes — and there often were — we resolved them ourselves. In the process, we learned a tremendous amount about teamwork, cooperation, fair play, creativity, and conflict resolution.

Unfortunately children have lost these traditions with contemporary hi-tech athletics, certified umpires, coaches and other adults running the show. Today, sports and games are structured; parents want coaches to take control and ensure that their wards get the best coaching and mentoring. In fact, kids are very often just pawns in games between coaches and parents. Sport for them, is no longer spontaneous fun, joy and exploration of their physical capabilities. They are often just working to a schedule chalked out by an ambitious coach driven by a need to prove himself to over-eager parents. In the process the need to infuse enthusiasm and joi de vivre in children is all too often forgotten.

However, as the opening story suggests, it is not impossible to create opportunities for children in today’s youth environment. When we give kids opportunities to serve as assistant coaches, umpires, managers and assistant managers, scorekeepers — even inviting them to sit on executive boards — we provide them with valuable opportunities to impact their environment and shape it for the better. In fact, some of the dominant sports personalities of today were once ballboys, referees and score keepers of their game. From the sidelines of the tennis court or football pitch, they got a holistic view of the game and not just the player’s perspective.

Sport is a medium of self-expression that kids enjoy instinctively. They can focus on becoming world champions, or they can make better use of the educational power of sport. They could become great leaders, good communicators, analysts or commentators. Therefore it makes sense to develop young people by sharing decision-making with them, or at least involving them in decision-making processes. By sharing power, adults can pass on knowledge and skills to them and in turn learn from their unique perspective. In addition, this would also provide meaningful opportunities for less-gifted athletes or even non-athletes to participate in sports-related activities. A good way to start is to get children to organise sports activities in their residential complexes and schools. This way they could become involved in the management of sports infrastructure and facilities.

Empowerment is the cornerstone of democratic societies. Empowering children early in life and involving them in decision-making will help to build healthy, wholesome adults with strong citizenship abilities for the years to come.

(Dr. George Selleck is a California-based sports psychologist and advisor to Sportz Village, Bangalore)