Prime Sport Parenting Online Course is Live!
I’m excited to announce the launch of my latest online course, Prime Sport Parenting 505: Raise Successful and Happy Athletes, a 4-class course that is offered on-demand and self-paced to fit into the busy lives of sport parents. Prime Sport Parenting 505 provides parents of athletes in any sport with deep insights, useful information, and practical tools […]
Read MoreWhat Young Athletes Really Need
I come to this article from two directions. First, as a sport psychologist who has worked athletes and their parents for decades. There is no doubt that my experiences in helping athletes to achieve their goals and assisting parents in best supporting their children has informed my ideas here. At the same time, perhaps more […]
Read MoreTeach Your Child Athlete Healthy Perspectives
These days, children seem to be given every opportunity by their parents to experience success in sports and every other performance activity (e.g., school, the performing arts). Many young athletes receive extra help from personal fitness trainers, private coaching, and training camps. They are given the opportunity to develop every possible sports skill necessary to […]
Read More7 Things Parents Can Say and Do at the End of a Sports Season
The conclusion of a sports season can be a time of excitement, relief, and suffering for parents of athletes. The excitement comes when your young athletes have just concluded a season that exceeded their (and your) expectations. The sense of pride and satisfaction can be palatable and reinforces why you have your children involved in […]
Read MoreThe Myth of Birth Order
A fascinating article in The Huffington Post debunks the myth, so dearly held by so many, that birth order impacts personality. Two recent large-scale, international studies (here and here) found no relationship between birth order and five primary personality traits (openness, conscientiousness, extroversion, agreeableness and neuroticism). In fact, the only known effect that birth order […]
Read MoreSet Healthy Expectations for Your Ski Racer
Setting expectations for your young ski racer is an essential responsibility of parenting. Expectations tell your children what’s important to you and establish a standard toward which they can strive. But expectations can be double-edged swords. They can be a tremendous benefit to your children’s development as both ski racers and people or they can […]
Read MoreTrying to Be Cool Makes Kids Unhappy
As the author of Your Children are Under Attack, I’m no fan of popular culture. Its aim is not to support healthy development of young people, but rather to profit from selling kids junk and attitudes wrapped in “it’ll make you happy” vibes. Well, recent research from the UK provides painful support for my views. […]
Read MoreBenefits and Costs of ‘Affluenza’ Among Children
Here’s an unsettling infographic from Northwestern University researchers that describes the benefits and significant costs of raising children in an affluent environment. It also offers some useful tips on how parents can prevent their children from catching ‘affluenza.’
Read MoreAre you a Free-Range Parent? You Should Be
There was a great article in the New York Times recently titled, The Case for Free-Range Parenting. It argues persuasively for the need for our children to have the freedom to explore their worlds on their own without parents acting like helicopters, always hovering around to “protect” them from the apparently dangerous world in which they now live. […]
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