Your tween daughter is begging to take a weekly yoga class with her friends. Should you steer her toward a sport instead?

Parent advice (from our panel of staff contributors):

Once you've checked it out, I'd say let her go for it. As the parent of a girl this age, I think they can benefit from learning anything that increases their focus and ability to calm themselves, which I've found to be one of the great, lasting benefits of yoga. And while team sports are great, I think it's important to promote physical activities that kids can still be doing at age 80. Like yoga.

Cindy Dampier

I would think the benefits of yoga would outweigh those of most other activities. Even if your daughter is interested only because her friends are and she's just following the pack, something might click, and she'll become involved in a body/mind practice that she can benefit from long after she'll have lost the ability to kick a soccer ball.

Bill Hageman

Teaching children about the mind/body connection, breathing and stretching can have lifelong benefits. Plus there's a fitness component, and it's a great stress reliever. Also, the noncompetitive nature of it can improve self-esteem in kids more than a team sport. And what tween couldn't use a bit of self-esteem?

Seka Palikuca

Expert advice:

Adolescence is actually a prime time for yoga, says Paula Walker, yoga instructor at Miami-based Green Monkey yoga studios, which partners with schools to offer children's yoga classes.

Read the original here:
Is yoga the best choice for teen?