Janis B. Meredith's Blog: JBM Thinks Sportsparenting, page 90

What is the balance between fun and hard work in youth sports?

Do you ever struggle with balancing the fun and hard work in youth sports? Today’s guest post by Kyle Ohman from BasketballHQ.com, has some thoughts to help with that battle. The beginning years of sports for a child can form a strong foundation for the rest of their playing career, but in too many cases [...]

When do you address playing-time issues with your child in youth sports?

One of the biggest issues in youth sports is playing time.   How do you handle it with your young child? When should you start the conversation with your little athlete? A few days ago I wrote a post for CoachUp about dealing with playing time issues. Take a few minutes to read it.   [...]

Why do kids in youth hockey fight?

A couple of weeks ago, I went to a minor-league hockey game. Probably my second game ever.  I don’t know a whole bunch about the sport, so I have to be honest and say I wasn’t enthralled. My son, however, is a huge St. Louis Blues fan and he convinced me a few days later [...]

5 fun sports souvenirs for your child to collect

Part of the fun of sports is all the collectible stuff that goes with it. Does your child have a sports collection? When my son was very small, he started collecting those little plastic NFL and MLB helmets. He would spend hours playing out games with those helmets, even pretending the NFL helmets were tackling [...]

Teaching kids responsibility: rinse & repeat

Do you ever get frustrated trying to teach your kids how to be responsible?  Of course you do! Every parent does. After 25 years of parenting, I’ve concluded that teaching our kids responsibility is not rocket science. Last week I wrote about it over at Less Than Perfect Parents. If this is something you struggle with [...]

When siblings compete in youth sports: what’s a parent to do?

  Having two competitors in the family facing off on opposite sides of the field or court can be rather difficult on youth sports parents.   Just ask Jack and Jackie Harbaugh, parents of Jim and John, who compete this Sunday for a world championship in the Super Bowl, a.k.a. “Harbowl”. It’s been big news, [...]

How you can help un-complicate youth sports

There are some things about being a sports parent that will never be easy; the drama, politics, and coach issues can get real messy. Why not do what you can as a sports parent to un-complicate your life a bit? The HomeTeam app is a tool that can help you do that. HomeTeam® is perfect [...]

9 tips to help your child juggle school and youth sports

Juggling youth sports and school, while maintaining good grades, is a challenge equal to any sports competition your child faces. But it can be done, whether your athlete is an A, C, or struggling-not-to-be-a-D  student. With your help, your child can be a winner on the field and court, and in the classroom. 1. Teach [...]

Help your child deal with his youth sports perfectionism

This guest post by Wendy Lynne, Director of the Mental Toughness Academy, focuses on an issue that many children struggle with in youth sports: perfectionism. Even if your kids are young, you may see perfectionism starting to grow. Wendy’s insights about it can help you as a parent help your athlete.   Perfectionism is often [...]

Choosing the right baseball/softball glove for your beginning player

Today’s guest post is downright practical if you have a child getting ready for spring baseball. Have you ever wondered out how to pick out a glove for your little leaguer? Mindy Tan, a Vinci Pro Consultant, gives some guidelines. Having kids that are new to baseball can be overwhelming, especially for a parent who [...]