Your Kid’s “Bad Habits” Are Actually Genius
Kids are natural problem-solvers. They don’t just play baseball — they adapt to the game in front of them. What looks like a flaw to adults is often a very smart solution to the specific environment they’re in.
Here are a few common examples:
1. “Throwing Like a Girl” (Elbow-First or Shot Put Throwing)
At ages 5, 6, 7, and even 8, throwing elbow-first is actually brilliant.
Think about it: the biggest goal at that age is getting the ball from the ground to first base so everyone can cheer for the out. An elbow-first throw is highly accurate and easy to repeat — perfect for the short distances and small hands involved. It maximizes the chance that the first baseman actually catches it.
If your kid is doing this, know that your child didn’t fail at throwing: They succeeded at the game they were actually playing.
So, when your kiddo is 9-years old and still doing it, don’t be frustrated — be proud. They’re a clever inventor. What will help them is to be encouraged for their invention and some “real talk” about how it’s time to learn the game at the higher level. Introduce them to a new, bigger game, reminding them that they have the same brain that figured out the old solution and thus can absolutely learn the new one.
2. The Decelerating Swing
At the youngest levels, putting the ball in play almost always equals a hit. Parents cheer. Kids smile. So the smartest strategy is simple: just meet the ball with the bat.
In contrast, ferocious swings lead to more misses, so kids learn to decelerate and guide the barrel to the ball. Again — brilliant adaptation.
If your child was crushing it in tee ball and machine pitch but is struggling as they reach the 11- and 12-year old level, it’s probably not because they “forgot” how to hit. It’s because they mastered a swing that worked for the previous environment.
3. The Lunging Swing
As kids reach the level where hits are balls hit into the outfield, often between 10- and 12-years old, they learn to lunge their entire body forward as they swing. This is an intelligent innovation because (a) the little extra momentum helps their small frame hit the ball further and (b) the pitching is slow enough and their coordination high enough that they can still make quality contact.
Once again, they’ve done nothing wrong given their constraints. However, this swing simply does not succeed at higher levels as pitcher’s velocity increases and off speed pitches become commonplace.
4. Pitching Like Playing Catch and “Just Throw Strikes”
As kids enter the kid pitch level, the ones that simply throw the ball in the strike zone are the big winners. And, let’s be honest, as parents it can be rough watching innings with a half dozen runs scored on nothing but walks. Once again, the players who invent just-throw-strikes delivery mechanisms are not wrong given their constraints. They are winners and they are smart.
They are also not prepared to pitch at higher levels and against strong competition. Worse, they often are throwing in a manner which will be particularly unhealthy as their strength increases. If don’t want to invest in biomechanically-sound foundations for a 9-year old figuring out if they even like baseball, that’s very reasonable. But, be prepared to encourage your child to reengineer his approach for success in future seasons.
The Big Truth
Most of the “bad habits” your child has in baseball were probably a winning strategy at an earlier stage.
Instead of getting frustrated, we should celebrate it:
“Look how well you solved the last version of this game. Now let’s go solve the next one.”
This is the heart of real development. We don’t shame old solutions. We honor them, then help kids upgrade to better ones.
That’s exactly what we do at our program — help clever young athletes move from good solutions for yesterday’s game to great solutions for tomorrow’s.