Janis B. Meredith's Blog: JBM Thinks Sportsparenting, page 88

Parenting issue: why is my child bossy?

If you have a bossy child, you may wonder if it is a normal stage of growing up. Every kid is bossy at some time, right?  Whether your child is going through a phase or seems to be developing a bossy attitude as he grows up, parenting experts suggest that the first step for you [...]

Do you have this very important parenting tool?

One of the most important parenting tools you have is the ability to laugh. Sometimes, we parents take ourselves and our kids way too seriously. I still do it sometimes, and my kids are 19,22, and 25. They are at the point now when they really like to tease Mom and Dad, and because we [...]

How to hit the Pause Button in youth sports

There is a time for playing youth sports. And there is a time to cease from playing youth sports. Perhaps that’s the Janis Meredith translation of a well known Ecclesiastical passage, but it’s still one that parents and athletes need to take in. Do you know how to keep the balance? Read more.       [...]

“It’s not fair!”: Help your child deal with it in youth sports

The unfairness of life is painfully felt by many kids in youth sports. All three of my kids felt it at one time or another. Perhaps you and your child have felt it too. How do you handle it when your child comes home and says, “It’s not fair!” Read more on how to help [...]

Youth sports on wheels: 10 reasons you and your child should go roller skating

In the busy-ness of youth sports–club travel and school teams–there is one form of exercise that seems to be forgotten. Has the roller skating craze has been left in the ’70s? Apparently not, says USA Roller Sports, the National Governing Body for Competitive Roller Sports in the United States. In the past three years, sales [...]

Why you should not let your child specialize in one sport

Do you think it’s a good idea to let your child specialize in as she plays youth sports? Take a few minutes and listen to one top athlete explain why she’s glad she played a variety of  youth sports. World Cup Medalist Amanda Chidester talks about the importance of playing multiple sports. Good words for you [...]

10 Lies that youth sports parents believe

There’s a load of crap circulating around the youth sports world, lies that parents believe which have made the culture of kids’ athletics rather distasteful at times. Don’t fall for it. If any of these unspoken or spoken lies steers your behavior as a sports parent, call them out for what they are: enemies that [...]

How you can choose the right youth sports team for your child

Your child’s youth sports experience can be positive, fun, and challenging, or it can be stressful, political, and less than enjoyable. Much of that depends on your child’s team or league.  And although you may think that you don’t really have much of a choice, as youth sports continues to grow in popularity–there are more [...]

Parenting checkup: what will your child’s inner voice be saying to him?

As if parenting wasn’t challenging enough, “experts” don’t help when they say things like:  How you talk to your kids will become their inner voice someday. That’s enough to scare the crap out of every parent because all of us have said things to our kids that we wish we could take back. Will one [...]

5 things sports parents do to annoy their kids

  Every parent does things to annoy their kids. Sometimes it’s called good parenting; other times it’s just plain annoying and counterproductive to their goal of raising strong, responsible kids. Sports parents have a special knack for annoying. Competition feeds our need to annoy. If you are a sports parent that is tempted to annoy [...]