Dad forces his 5 sons to play sports, gets angry when his 8-year-old prefers studying gemstones over playing baseball: 'He told me he doesn't want to play sports and started crying.'

He's not going to suddenly love baseball by being forced to play.

Some parents have a strict rule about extracurriculars that their kids have to play a sport, no matter what. This can work well if all the kids in your family are happy and willing to participate in a sport, whether they're good at it or not. Some kids like sports and are thrilled to get the opportunity to play one for their entire childhood. If you have a kid who is hostile to the idea of participating in sports, it's going to be much harder to enforce that rule.

There's probably a sport for everyone, but that doesn't mean it's available in your town or particularly receptive to new, unathletic kids. If you live in a town that is known for being competitive in athletics, an unathletic kid is probably going to feel a lot less welcome on the basketball team than he would in a town where the basketball team isn't particularly competitive. One bad experience on an unsupportive sports team can make a kid feel unathletic and incapable of thriving in sports for life, so it's essential to offer alternative options if they don't enjoy sports.