I used to mock parents who got fired up about their children’s sport. Now I’m one of them | Myke Bartlett

What nobody tells you about sport, when you're exercise-agnostic, is that it contains pleasures that have nothing to do with being active

• Sharing the Load is a column about parenting children of all ages
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The best parenting advice I ever read - or at least the most convincing - was don't let your kids do sport". As someone who had always treasured weekends, the thought of spending them driving to uncharted places and standing in muddy fields filled me with horror.

It didn't help that sport and I had never really clicked. From kindergarten to high school, I was that child who was always picked last, if at all. Tennis, tee-ball, basketball, AFL. You name it, I was crap at it. I was determined to save my children from that trauma. And more importantly, to sleep in on Saturdays.