Janis B. Meredith's Blog: JBM Thinks Sportsparenting, page 80

Youth Sports & Cycling: How Can Riding a Bicycle Help Your Athlete?

Cycling has a reputation for being a fun family sport, and I really shouldn’t have to convince you that it’s a great way to spend time with your family. If you haven’t biked as a family, it’s not too late to invest in some bikes (get used if you want to keep the price down) [...]

Youth Sports Trophies: why do we do it?

Youth sports trophies are very popular in today’s youth sports culture. If your child plays sports, you’ve probably got shelves lined with them. Every season that my child received one, we promptly put it on the shelf and really never gave it much more thought. Giving trophies away to child athletes for simply participating in [...]

Youth Sports Fundraising: Cut the Fluff and Get to the Point

Youth sports fundraising is the fly in the ointment of sports parenting. It’s a chore that we all hate to do. But it must be done so that our kids can have the equipment, the uniforms, and the funds for traveling to games. If you are like me, you’ve probably tried just about everything: candy [...]

Why Parenting an Athlete Will Never Be Easy and What You Can Do to Meet the Challenges of Sports parenting

Even with the challenges of sports parenting, there are still some pretty awesome moments–and memories made–for sports parents. There’s nothing like the joy that comes from watching your kid work hard, achieve success, accept and conquer challenges. But let’s be honest: sports parenting–albeit rewarding–will never be easy. There’s just too many negative factors that you [...]

Messiness in your home: should it matter?

Is messiness a battle in your home? You’ve heard the saying, “choose your battles,” and I think that especially applies to parenting. The challenge comes in choosing which battles are worth fighting. I believe that many parents choose to give the battle against messiness a higher priority than it deserves. Messiness should not be totally [...]

20 Things You Will Not Regret Doing as a Sports Parent

As a sports parent, you may have already done some things you regretted. Join the club. We’ve all done things we wish we could take back. But these are the things you will not regret doing as a sports parent: 1. Going to all their games. Or at least every single one that you possibly can.  [...]

Fair Treatment in Youth Sports: What is it really?

Fair Treatment in Youth Sports does not always look as we’d like it to. Does it mean that coaches should treat all kids the same? If you’d asked me that question at the beginning of my sports parenting journey, I would have said yes, absolutely! Of course it does! When my kids were little, I [...]

Top Ten Kid Sports Moments: Let’s keep it fun

This video on Top Ten Kids Sports Moments put out by Sports Center is a reminder that sports is not just about adults, it’s about kids too. Kids love sports for the pure fun and enjoyment of the experience. They may not care who wins, how many runs or touchdowns are scored or who gets the [...]

What Does Your Child’s Youth Sports Coach Want from You?

Your child’s youth sports coach has a lot on his plate: wins and losses, coaching kids, and raising money, to name a few. But his greatest challenge comes in dealing with parents of athletes. I recently came across a letter written by a high school baseball coach in Southern California to sports parents. In it [...]

Help Your Child Deal with Annoying Teammates

Annoying teammates in youth sports are as inevitable as winning and losing. Maybe it’s a child who constantly complains or brags, one who feels the need to put down other players or blames others for his mistakes.   When your child ends up on a team with an annoying teammate–who usually does it when the [...]