When young children take an interest in a sport, parents face a dilemma. Do you encourage a single sport starting at an early age, which can lead to a high skill level, competition and scholarships in the teen years? Or do you enroll your kids in several sports, exposing them to many activities and interests?

It’s a question many parents are no doubt mulling in the wake of the Olympics, where we were wowed by the single-minded dedication of Michael Phelps, who started swimming at the age of 11, and gymnast Shawn Johnson, who began her training at age 3.

But while dedication to a single sport at a young age paid off for these athletes, pediatricians warn that many more kids experience overuse injuries and burnout as a result of focusing on just one sport. Last year, the medical journal Pediatrics examined the problem of overuse injuries and burnout in adolescent athletes.

As my Well column in today’s Science Times notes, growing bones can’t handle the same stresses as mature bones. When a child specializes in one sport early in life, certain body parts — the arm of a Little League pitcher, the spine of a gymnast — are subjected to repetitive stress and overuse. Especially among young soccer players, there has been an alarming rise in injuries to the anterior cruciate ligament, the main ligament that stabilizes the knee joint — a particular concern because repair involves drilling into a growth plate, an area of developing tissue at the end of the leg bone.

Burnout is also a worry, and it’s important for both parents and kids to identify what the child’s goals really are, the journal notes.

The ultimate goal of youth participation in sports should be to promote lifelong physical activity, recreation, and skills of healthy competition that can be used in all facets of future endeavors…. Unfortunately, too often the goal is skewed toward adult (parent/coach) goals either implicitly or explicitly. The parent often hopes the child will get a scholarship, become a professional athlete, or fulfill the parents’ unfulfilled childhood dreams. It is best to identify and focus on the child’s motivation and goals to provide guidance.

The solution to overuse injuries and burnout is not to curb a child’s sports participation. Instead, encourage a variety of sports that develop different skills and use different body parts. For instance, swimming is probably not a good choice if the goal is to rest the shoulder of a Little League pitcher. But combining activities like track and golf or gymnastics and tennis will give over-used muscles a break, while still keeping a child physically active.

To learn more about childhood sports, read the full Well column here. And post your comments below. As an adult, do you wish you’d enjoyed several sports as a child or just focused on one? Have you struggled to convince your child there is more to life than soccer or gymnastics?

当孩子们对一项运动产生兴趣时，父母往往陷入矛盾中。是鼓励孩子小小年纪就投入某一项运动中，使其在少年时得以达到较高的技术层次，参加比赛并得奖。还是让孩子同时参加多项体育运动，使他们拥有更多样的活动，培养更广泛的兴趣爱好？

奥运会上，当11岁便开始专心投入游泳的Michael Phelps和3岁就开始其体操生涯的Shawn Johnson成为备受瞩目的明星之后，让孩子们从事一项还是多项体育运动更成了让很多父母们头疼的问题。

尽管从小全心投入一项运动使这些运动员们得到了丰厚回报，但儿科医生也告诫人们，更多孩子因为只从事一项体育锻炼而导致身体因过度训练而损伤或产生职业倦怠感。去年，医学杂志《儿科学》对成年运动员因训练过度而产生的损伤及职业倦怠感进行了调查。

正如我在今天的《科学时间》杂志健康专栏里所写的那样，尚在发育过程中的骨骼承受不了发育成熟的骨骼所能承受的压力。当一个孩子过早投身于一项运动，他们身体的各部分－－如小投球手的胳膊，体操运动员的脊椎，肯定会反复承受压力及被过度使用。特别是在小足球运动员中，越来越多人前交叉韧带损伤，这是固定膝关节的韧带，令人担心的是它的修复需要在腿骨端生长组织－－生长板上钻孔。

该杂志写道：职业倦怠感同样令人担心。孩子们的目标到底是什么，这对父母和孩子来说都很重要。

青年人参加体育运动的最终目标应该是促进终身体育运动，是娱乐活动，有利于提高良性竞争的水平，而这在将来奋斗过程中的方方面面都很有用处。

但不幸的是，多数情况下，这个目标或隐或显地被强行转换为成年人（家长或教练）的目标。

家长总是希望孩子得到奖学金，成为专业运动员或达成父母们小时候未能达成的愿望。其实最好了解并且关注孩子们自己的想法和目标，以此为基础来提供指导。

解决过度训练损伤和职业倦怠感的方法不是限制孩子的运动，而是鼓励他们参加多项可以提高不同技能的运动，使身体各部分都得到锻炼。如果是为了使小投球手的胳膊得到休息，那么游泳可能就不是好的选择。但将田径和高尔夫或体操和网球相结合，就可以使过度使用的肌肉得到休息，并且仍然使孩子保持运动状态。

要想了解更多关于孩子们运动方面的信息，可以阅读完整的健康专栏。并将你们的意见留在下面。作为一个成年人，你是希望像孩子们一样享受多种体育运动带来的乐趣还是专心投入一项运动？你是否曾苦口婆心地说服孩子，除了足球和体操，生活中还有其他更重要的东西？