Janis B. Meredith's Blog: JBM Thinks Sportsparenting, page 84

ESPN Wide World of Sports at Disney: 10 Reasons that youth teams should compete at the Happiest Place on Earth

ESPN Wide World of Sports at Disneyworld in Orlando contacted me in May about visiting their complex and writing a review of what they offer to youth sports teams. For a free night at the Yacht & Beach Club and 2 free park-hopper tickets to Disney, how could I say no? Although I had never [...]

When your child gets cut from the team

When your child gets cut from the team, what do you say? I got an email from a mom recently who asked me some very hard questions. Hi Janis,  In the last two years, our high school girls volleyball coaches have had team tryouts and last year, they cut one girl from the team. This [...]

Teaching Independence: 4 stages of parenting you will go through

Teaching independence to your child is a task that most parents would agree is part of their parental duties. The debate arises, however, when you ask them when and how their children begin their lessons in independence. I’m no psychological expert, but my 26 years of parenting have given me an “expert” status resulting from [...]

Moving a child up in sports: 8 questions to gage if he is ready

Parents tend to be a little too eager when it comes to moving a child up in sports. They see their children as they hope and want them to be, not as they really are. If you are wondering whether your young athlete is ready to move up to the next level–perhaps leaving behind his [...]

Disadvantages of Youth Sports: 5 things it will not do for you and your child

No one talks much about the disadvantages of youth sports. In fact, You’ve been told numerous times and in a hundred different ways that youth sports has many benefits for your child. That is a message that needs to continue to resound; I firmly believe that youth sports can be life-changing and life-shaping for many [...]

Over scheduled kids: 10 signs that things are out of balance

Over scheduled kids are pretty easy to spot. They are always getting into cars, putting on uniforms of some sort, or wolfing down yet more meals on the go. They are adapting very nicely to a drive-thru life. Why are we over scheduling our kids? Over scheduled kids stay out of trouble, right? In the [...]

4 Guidelines for Motivating Your Child

Motivating your child in youth sports  is not exactly an exact science; it’s more like an art form. It’s trial and error. Give and take. Sometimes it takes a lot of guesswork. It’s a learning process for parents as much as it is for kids because every child is different and every child responds differently [...]

Confronting a Coach: 5 Guidelines for How Sports Parents Should Interfere

Confronting a coach is not something you as a sports parents should do on a regular basis. Done too often, it will blend uselessly into the background noise of parental complaining that most coaches learn to ignore. But there is a time, a place, and a good reason for confronting coaches. Here’s the what where, [...]

Kids and sports, and the two little words that will drive parents crazy

The world of kids and sports can be as frustrating as it is fun. But let’s be honest: parents bring a lot of the vexation upon themselves. And one of the most common ways parents do this is by using two little, but very powerful words. What if? My dad always told me when I [...]

Parenting Skills: How to Pave the Way for Your Child’s Greatness

Parenting skills are not just limited to refereeing your children’s fights or cooking nutritious meals.  Have you ever considered the possibility that you as a parent can pave the way for your child’s greatness? As this video shows, sometimes the greatness of our kids looks differently than we anticipate.     How do you pave [...]