First there was swim team — until the day my then eight-year-old daughter pointed out to me that the really fast kids float on top of the water, and the slower ones sink.  She was a sinker, she said. Then there was soccer, a sport where the most successful were fast and aggressive. Then there was basketball, a sport that came with a group of friends that took her through highschool. Today my young adult daughter plays friendly soccer and broomball, and sometimes pick-up basketball. What she loves most of all is running distances by herself in the early mornings.

When she was young I worried whether I was doing the right thing by insisting she participate in some kind of physical  activity.  “Whatever you want,” I’d say. “But something.”   Today, I’m glad I pushed her. If I hadn’t, I think she might have avoided sports or regular exercise altogether until it was too late. Parental attitude and involvement is one of the most important reasons why girls do and don’t do sports and other physical activity, according to a new report by the University of Minnesota’s Tucker Center for Research on Girls & Women in Sports.

 Do you guide your daughter’s choices about exercise? Do you struggle with finding a balance?