Mark Hyman's Blog, page 12

To pursue a child's dream, how far would you go?

A hypothetical. You live in Turkey. You own a successful restaurant in Ankara. You make a comfortable living.

Your daughter begins skating. She's talented with the potential to be a champion, maybe an Olympian. But not if you remain in Turkey.

The way to nurture her ability is to move halfway around the world to Canada so she can be around the best skaters and coaches. You can't take your restaurant with you. Your friends and extended family either. You have limited command of English. So you'r...

"My mom thinks I can do anything"

Notable sports parenting commercials airing during NBC's Olympic coverage:

This post originally published at http://www.youthsportsparents.blogspo...

Selling laundry soap, diapers to sports parents

Two commercials running nightly (hourly) during NBC's Olympic coverage:

This post originally published at http://www.youthsportsparents.blogspo...

Watching the Winter Games, fighting back tears

I was unmoved when Lindsey Vonn won her gold.

I shrugged when Apolo Ohno came out of nowhere for silver.

I felt nothing - ok, not much - when Team USA polished off Team Canada in hockey.

Then the commercials began. Now I can't stop bawling.

What's the matter with me?

Here are two ads that pull at every conceivable sports parenting heart string.

I'm giving Proctor & Gamble ("Proud Sponsor of Moms") the gold. WalMart ("Official Sponsor of Moms") takes the silver.

This...

After apology Tiger reminds us he cares about kids

Two references to kids during this morning's Tiger Woods' (I let the whole world down) speech. That was about one too many.

What he said about being a hero to kids - and how that's over - showed humility.

"Parents used to point to me as a role model for their kids. I owe all those families a special apology. I want to say to them: I am truly sorry. "

A tortured detour in the text about Tiger's kids' golf foundation was way out of place.

"To everyone involved in my foundation, including my staff ...

USC's 13-year-old QB; Congrats to Alan Schwarz

Reading about David Sills last week, I wondered what people who actually study kids would make of the situation. Not football tutors. Not college football coaches. Child advocates, health professionals.

I expected all would be riled up about USC's offer of a football scholarship to Sills, a seventh grader. But that wasn't quite right. Here's my piece from ParentDish.

Unrelated but important: Today Alan Schwarz of the New York Times won the Polk Award for sports reporting. He's responsible for h...

The real Olympic trial - being away from their kids

For AOL's parenting Web site, I just interviewed five U.S. Olympians who're headed for Vancouver. The hook is that, in addition to be on Team USA, they're all parents. That's somewhat unusual for Olympic athletes. The first interview to post to the site is Christian Niccum, a luger. Niccum and his wife have an 18-month-old daughter Hayden. The Niccum family has a blog and you can see family pictures there.

One thing that came up over and over in the five interviews is how much time these athle...

How a Little Leaguer's death has saved lives

This story is as much about dental heroism as youth sports. But it feels very good.

Recently, a oral surgeon from Merrick, Long Island was attending a Bar Mitzvah. He saw a friend - actually the party's host - collapse on the dance floor. He rushed to the man and thinking quickly called out for a heart defibrillator. In a few seconds, Dr. Craig Levine had revived his friend Lew Goldman.

In 2007, a patient waiting in Dr. Levine's office collapsed of a heart attack. Dr. Levine saved her life too....

Sports scholarships and other false promises

Outstanding article in Sunday's Houston Chronicle on the false promise of college scholarships. The Chronicle's Jenny Dial does two interesting things.

First, she computes the percentage of high school athletes who are playing in college AND receiving money. She reports that in men's and women's basketball, men's and women's track and field, men's golf and men's soccer, it's less than one percent.

Second, she speaks with parents in the Houston area about what they spend on their kids' sports e...

Why do kids play sports? In Darien, fun is first

Here's a piece that I wrote for Sunday's New York Times about Peter Barston, an enterprising young man from Darien, Connecticut. Since August, Peter, 15, has been touring local youth leagues asking the kid players: Why do you play sports?

Peter's survey is a single sheet with 11 reasons listed including: to have fun, to make friends, to earn a college scholarship, to go to a higher level of competition. The answer cited the most? To have fun. It was the top answer for kids in every grade (four...