the battle for control of our children
I was a health teacher in a middle school. I said the same thing to my health students, boys and girls, as I do to my team kids and my own children today. “Losing control of yourself is the worst thing that can happen to you. Whether you lose control to another person, like a…
Over-rewarded and under-trained.
In high school I had a 3.8 grade point and I can only remember taking books home a few times. Success at our school was basically showing up, listening, doing the minimal work assigned and succeeding. Then I went to college and was shown, in no short time, that just showing up wasn’t enough. I…
Choosing sports
Kids today are faced with so many choices. When it comes to activities should they do an academic program (one of my sons does a Lego Robot class, the other takes Spanish)? Should they do community or volunteer programs? Should they do sports? If so which one? Swimming is a life skill. Tennis is a…
When parents make kids love sports
I learned an invaluable lesson from the fine folks at Proactive Sports. No matter how my kids perform at a meet or a game I convey the message that I love to watch them play. That concept is why kids often prefer that their grandparents come to see them in meets. They know that there…
When parents make their kids quit sports
(Almost) every child quits their sport. Some quit because they grow out of it, some quit because they find other interests, some become coaches and never quit, but that’s a separate blog post. Some kids quit because their parents chase them out of it. I have had parents withdraw their kids because it was too…
As you graduate today….
Every year around this time I envy the people who get to make graduation speeches to graduating classes in high schools and colleges. I mean presidents, ambassadors, captains of industry, movie stars? Where are the small business owners, the coaches, and parents? So I am giving my speech to the unfortunate blog reader who tripped…