Janis B. Meredith's Blog: JBM Thinks Sportsparenting, page 79

Effective Parenting Includes This Very Important Task: Read Past the Headlines

Effective parenting is more than just feeding, clothing, and disciplining your child–a fact that most of you probably recognize. It also includes paying attention. As parents, we’ve been told by experts to watch for symptoms and outward expressions of problems our children may be having. And yes, I’d say that’s definitely true. But effective parenting cannot [...]

Sports Nutrition: Help Your Child Follow the 3/4 Rule

Proper sports nutrition has as much to do with your child’s success in athletics as his conditioning and practices. I’m embarrassed to admit that I didn’t do as good a job at the proper care and feeding of  my young athletes as I should have. I wasn’t being defiant; I just didn’t know any better [...]

Boost Your Child’s Self Esteem with the Hero Technique

If you struggle to boost your child’s self esteem, take a few minutes to read this guest post by Mental Toughness Trainer Craig Sigl.  As a sports parent, most of us get our kids into sports to learn life lessons.  As a mental coach for youth athletes I like to be creative in how I [...]

One Parenting Rule You Should Never Forget

I hate the idea of a parenting rule, but this is one that all parents should live by. It’s called Checkbook Parenting. In the book 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, Stephen Covey compares this type of relational strategy to an emotional bank account. Basically it says that you have to fill up the emotional [...]

Why You Shouldn’t Worry About Being the Perfect Sports Parent

Many of you are striving to be the perfect sports parent. You’d really like to always be positive and supportive of your child, his team, and the coach. You desire to be a dutiful volunteer for the team, make it to every one of your child’s games, and never get mad at the refs. But [...]

10 Things that are Hard to be Thankful for in Youth Sports

It’s a thankful time of year and many of us have no problem coming up with a list of things to be thankful for as we sit around the Thanksgiving table. But when it comes to youth sports, we might have to pause. Because if we are being honest, we must admit that often there’s [...]

Supporting Kids Sports: Can You be Objective?

Supporting kids sports and parental objectivity do not seem to go hand in hand. Sports parents are not objective observers. Let’s be honest about this, okay? We think that our kid can do no–or very little–wrong. We insist that it’s not his fault the other team scored. And we blame the coach or other team [...]

Post-Game Parenting: What Your Child Needs After a Game

Post-game parenting is just as important as pre-game parenting when it comes to youth sports.  Athletes are especially sensitive after games. Their emotions are real and raw–with either joy or sadness–and your words during the car ride home will either heal or irritate. It’s probably a good idea to think about what you say. Mike [...]

Is Your Child Playing Backup in Youth Sports? Help Him do His Job

Playing backup as an athlete in youth sports is a job that is often under-valued. But backup positions are actually much more important than most athletes think.How often have we seen second and third string players put in the game in key situations and end up taking their team to victory? It happens all the [...]

8 Guidelines for Pre-Game Parenting

What is the pre-game atmosphere like in your family? I’m guessing that in a lot of sports families, the car ride to the game or sports event is full of last minute advice or pep talks. I sure did my share of pre-game pumping up, but if I’m really being honest, I must question whether [...]