How do you choose a safe sport for your child? There are many experts who will tell you how you can choose the safest sport for your child. This article by Dr. David Geier, an orthopedic surgeon and author of That’s Gotta Hurt: The Injuries That Changed Sports Forever directs parents to check out the Healthy…
What Is Your Child’s Motivation?
Teaching kids motivation to work hard and do the right thing is a huge challenge for many parents. The list of tactics includes bribery, threats, comparison, cajoling, and shaming. Those “solutions” are short-term at best, but the long-term answer to how do I motivate my kids is much more complicated. I recently asked parents in…
4 Reasons That Competition Turns Ugly
Competition always evokes emotion. Some athletes and parents don’t necessarily show it but believe me, it’s there! Emotions during youth sports range from excitement to anger and unfortunately, they often hang around to hinder your child’s performance. Negative emotions can cause your child to lose intensity, get tense in their muscles, have difficulty breathing and…
What Doing Crossfit Has Taught Me
When my millennial children suggested I try crossfit, I laughed. Even when they informed me that there was a 70-year-old woman named Ruth taking a class, I still brushed off their invitations, convinced that I was too old to start something I’d never tried. I had visions of trying to keep up with Herculean strength athletes and…
5 HUGE Parenting Challenges You Face Daily and How to Keep them From Driving You Crazy
Parenting challenges greet you every morning, and they come in all shapes and sizes. It may start with “what’s for breakfast” and proceed to “we’re gonna be late for school!!!” It may continue throughout the day with a text that says, “I’m sick” or a call that says, “your child is in the principal’s office.”…
Why It’s Good For Families to “Run Away” from It All
Every now and then families need a break from the crazy schedules and demands of life. When you barely have time to talk to each other, when it feel like it’s been forever since you actually had fun together, or even a sit-down leisurely family meal, running away may be the very thing you need….
Why are Parents Stressing Over Their Kids’ Sports? Here Are 6 Reasons
Do you find yourself consistently getting stressed about your child’s youth sports involvement? If so, you are not alone. Many sports parents feel stressed, although they may not even know exactly why. The sad, but honest truth is that much of the stress parents feel is self-inflicted. If you’re feeling stressed and are not sure why,…
Would Your Youth Athlete Agree to this Code of Conduct?
What should the code of conduct be for athletes? A few months ago, when Serena Williams lost her cool and got into it with the chair umpire during the U.S. Open, she provoked a lot of discussion about how athletes should behave as they play sports. Some felt that her outburst was understandable; others felt that…
Volunteering to Help Your Child’s Team: What’s the Payback?
Sports parents know that volunteering is practically mandatory for them if their children play sports for any length of time. Volunteers are the grease that turns the wheel of youth sports; there’s just no way to avoid doing it. It’s a sports parent’s duty, and many times it’s done rather grudgingly. But may I suggest…
What Does Your Child Hear When They Read Your Body Language?
Words are very important and what you say to your child does matter, but your body language actually carries more weight. In 1971 psychologist Albert Mehrabian published Silent Messages, which included his pioneering research on nonverbal communication. When it comes to credibility, Mehrabian found that we assign 55% of the weight to body language, 38%…