children
willful blindness
I hear from parents all the time that their children have “selective hearing.” I had it as a kid too. It seems that children have the uncanny knack to be able to tune out what they don’t deem as valuable no matter how loud; and to be able to hear, even at a whisper, what…
Read MoreThat’s news and weather….and now for sports…
I have rallied before about the ill effect of news broadcasting on the mind and soul. News agencies go for top dollar by playing on fear and our darkest emotions to goad us into viewing or listening to their broadcast. If they tease with “Teen kills parents, more at 10” they know that we will…
Read MoreWhat will my child gain by being at Gymfinity?
Taken from an originally published work by Dr. Bill Sands that appeared in Technique Magazine 1999 available at this link What will my child gain by being in gymnastics? Pound for pound gymnasts are the strongest athletes in any Olympic sport. Most are small in stature and their strength to weight ratio is very high.…
Read MoreWhat is your lesson plan today?
Years ago, some random professional athlete (whose name I don’t rememebr because they are insignificant in my world) said that pro athletes are not role models to children, they’re just athletes. I couldn’t disagree more. In fact, I’ll take it to the next step and tell you that every adult is a role model to…
Read MoreAre you memorable?
So often we harp on the dark side of children’s sports. We discuss the psycho-parent, the bratty bully, over-training children, embarrassing performances and more. We tend to remember the bad things but have a hard time recalling good things. I learned at a business conference in a discussion of brain functionality (yeah, I go to…
Read MoreI resolve to….be S*M*A*R*T
Lose weight, workout more, get my financials in order, call my brothers more, learn a new language, etc. The list is endless and most often it’s open-ended. Most people who make resolutions do it with a genuine desire for self-improvement, the problem is in the follow through. Often our resolutions are little more than thoughts…
Read MoreBrain Research supports gymnastics as a good choice for kids
One of the current strategies for working with children classified as ADD or Attention Deficit Disorder is to give them more physical activity. The research shows that kids with ADD have smaller frontal lobes of the brain and thus they tend to struggle with focus and lean toward being more impulsive. Many of these children…
Read Morethere aint no Santa Claus
I am sad to admit that I have long lost my holiday spirit. I grew up in a moderately religious household and Christmas was a time to celebrate our christian upbringing; but more so a time to celebrate family. As I grew I learned that the proposed date of Christmas was March 21st (the supposed day that the sun…
Read MoreHow can you get them to eat healthy?
How can we get our kids to eat healthier? That is a great question; first lets look at what is against us and what we need to do to combat it. Kids are bombarded by media messages telling them to eat terrible processed food-like products that have no nutritional value. They see more ads for…
Read MoreThe problem with Traditionitis
Ok. Just venting. I am appalled at somethings I see things in the children’s activity industry and I wonder what the heck is going on. Case in point: I see an advertisement for a local children’s activity franchise that shows a child doing a back bend, or what in gymnastics or yoga is known as…
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