In this week’s vlog segment, I explore the importance of the messages you send to your young athletes. I believe that “your children become the messages you get the most.” You want to make sure that the messages you send to them will encourage them to enjoy their sports participation, perform their best, achieve their athletic [...]
When you think of ski racing, values are probably not the first thing that comes to mind. Yet, whether you’re aware of it or not, the values that you instill in your children as part of their ski racing experiences have an immense impact on every aspect of their ski racing life as well as [...]
In this week's vlog segment, I explore the difference between expectations and goals. Expectations act as burdens that you place on your young athletes before a competition, causing pressure, anxiety, and worry. Goals, if used correctly, act as motivators to help them become successful. Having goals for your children in their sports participation starts with [...]
In this week's vlog segment, I explore the importance of helping your young athletes to define success in their sports participation. This discussion by parents with their children is so vital because the youth sports culture defines success in a very narrow and limiting way, namely, success is about winning. Of course, victory is a [...]
Some time ago, I shared with you my list of Dos for Sport Parents. In general, I much prefer to focus on the positives of behavior and, in that article, emphasized what parents can do to help their young athletes achieve their goals and have a great experience in their sport. At the same time, [...]
If you haven't seen it, Time magazine's cover story, for which I was interviewed, offers a scathing indictment of what I call the "youth sports industrial complex" and how what used to be about fun is now a $15 billion business. Every parent of a young athlete should read the article, reflect on their own [...]
As the author of a book on the impact of technology on children and families, Raising Generation Tech, I have a strong professional interest in the role that the myriad of devices and screen time now found in the hands of children and their parents alike plays in the development of young people and the [...]
I was just sent this article by former world-class runner, Lauren Fleshman. It is truly a must-read for every parent of a young female athlete and young female athletes themselves. The article explores the physical, psychological, emotional, and performance challenges of girls reaching puberty and becoming women. It is both revealing and poignant (brought tears to my [...]
I came across this great article that should challenge all parents to ask themselves whether they are preparing their children for life in the "real world." The article focuses on the reason why so many kids are so easily bored, impatient, frustrated, and struggling socially these days. She provides some spot-on, though somewhat painful, explanations [...]
Here is a fascinating article offering a provocative new theory that the decline in drug use in the past decade is due to the rise in smartphone use. Epidemiological data has demonstrated that young people are using alcohol, marijuana, and other drugs significantly less than 10 years ago. This relationship between drug and smartphone use has [...]
