Balancing Youth Sports and Family Life: How to Find Balance & Reclaim Family Time

Raising sports active kids is difficult, perhaps more today than ever before. Parents feel pressure to help their kids succeed. They want to keep up with other parents in an increasingly winner-take-all society. Too often, parents just like you feel that if they don't do everything for their child, they are bad parents.

In fact, surveys show that today's sport active kids and their parents get too caught up in the crazy sports vortex. Today's parents spend eleven hours less a week with their teenagers than they did two decades ago. The average mother spends less than a half hour per day talking with her teens. Only six out of ten 15 and 16 year olds regularly eat dinner with their parents. Family vacations are down by 28 percent. Sports have replaced church on Sunday for many families. Children are being benched for missing practice to be with their families on religious holidays.

Surveys also show that your children most likely lament the lack of parental attention. They want to spend more time with you, not less. They want more free time, not less.

I sincerely believe it's time to reclaim our family time. Here's how you can find a balance between your children's youth sport activities and your family life:

Schedule family time. Set aside one night a week or month as Family Game Night. Choose a board game, play card games, make tacos, and just be together. Make it sacred time.

Consider your travel time. Before you allow your children to play a particular sport, or on a particular team, consider your travel time to practices and games. Other things to consider include: your work schedule as well as your spouses, your children's school schedule and homework demands, carpool availability, and the needs of other family members.

 

Look for balanced sports programs. Look for leagues and clubs that balance sports, family and school life. Make sure the program emphasizes having fun more than winning. Children shouldn't be penalized for missing practice on Christmas Eve to be with their family.

Find a balance between sports. Introduce your children to sports such as golf, tennis, squash, racquetball, cycling, sailing, windsurfing, rock climbing, jogging, kayaking, rowing, or canoeing that they can enjoy after their competitive careers are over. Encourage your children to engage in sports and activities with you as long as they enjoys them, like bike riding, hiking, skating, sailing, and running. Encourage them to play different sports and avoid early specialization. It will them develop a variety of transferable motor skills such as jumping, running, twisting and simultaneously reduce the risk of overuse injuries that too often result from early specialization.

Allow for a social life outside of sports. Being on a travel or select team often requires a year-round or near year-round commitment and extensive travel. If you allow your children to participate, they can end up socially isolated from the family, their peers and the larger community. The athletic role can become so consuming and controlling that their childhood essentially disappears. Early specialization can thus interfere with normal identity development, increasing the risk that a child will develop what psychologists call a one-dimensional self-concept in which they see themselves solely as an athlete instead of just a part of who they are.

Coach your child's team on "kid time". Too many parents fall victim to the idea that practices have to happen after an adult's workday is over. This falls during the dinner hour, when children should be spending time with their family. With the new statistics of parents (primarily mothers) working from home, why not get your coaching license and run the practice in the afternoon right after school is over? This will give you time to be with your children and their friends and still be home in time for dinner with the rest of the family.

It is possible to create balance within your family's everyday life, even with children who participate in sports. But it is up to you as the parents to make certain that your kids don't over schedule and that they establish the right priorities.

What's Related
Achieving Balance in Your Family
Surviving Little League
The Cost of Competition on Kids
The Simpler Family

 

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About the Author
Brooke de Lench, Youth Sports Parenting Expert and author of Home Team Advantage: The Critical Role of Mothers in Youth Sports has helped over 42 million moms and dads worldwide get the tools and information they need to make their child's youth sports experience safer, less stressful and more inclusive. For more information on balancing your child's sports life with your family life, go to www.momsteam.com and sign up for Brooke's free newsletter.

FishEyes Rod & Reel with Underwater Video Camera

Nextsport has come up with a cool way to take the guesswork out of fishing. Picture this. You and your keep head out to the pier and drop your line in the water. Hours go by with no nibbles. The kids are whining, no one is catching anything, and the sun is beginning to beat down on you. You leave with an empty fish bucket and a headache. Sound familiar?

Enter FishEyes. At first I thought this was a fishing pole, but what it really is is an ingenious way to determine if the fish are around or not. if the fish aren't there, you can move to another spot and avoid a wasted morning with disappointed kids. Just drop the FishEyes line into the water. There's a camera on the end of the line and a viewing screen on the rod. You'll see a crystal clear picture of what swims below!

FishEyes is meant mostly for pier and boat fishing. You drop it in and the bait basket will attract the fish, letting you see what's swimming around. This tool works best when used in lakes, as rushing rivers will keep the camera moving around too much for a clear visual. FishEyes is not meant to be cast out, the camera is too heavy and will not allow for much distance.

This tool is also great fun around the swimming pool. Drop the camera in and watch your kids swim! Take it to the beach, lower the camera in the water and search for treasures such as shells and starfish.

FishEyes Features:

• Underwater video camera transmits live footage to your LCD screen
• Full-color, full motion LCD screen with removable sun shade
• Allows you to catch the fish you see
• Included bait basket attracts fish to the viewing area
• Video camera with built in LED light for all underwater conditions

Technical Details:

• Requires 4 AA batteries- not included or users ages 8 & up
• Adult assembly required
• Hooks and lures not included

Testimonials:

"FishEyes rod and reel was great for keeping our kids entertained on our last fishing trip, it really is like a fishing video game"


"My kids spent hours playing with the FishEyes on our last camping trip to the lake; they were convinced they'd find the Lochness monster and hidden treasure underwater"


"My husband loved the FishEyes because it finally kept the kids occupied while he fished!"


"I cast it out until it was facing down river and monitored the LCD screen while my friends were casting their lines in front of it. We watched to see which lure colors were attracting the fish better. Worked great!"

Watch the video of this cool gadget:



Find out more information and how to purchase FishEyes on their website

Salt Dough Sports Magnets

If the Dad in your child's life is a sports nut, these magnets made from salt dough are a perfect gift for Father's Day. Simple instructions and easy to decorate you can make extras for Grandpa too! 

You will need 

salt dough recipe (below)

acrylic paint in orange and white

red Sharpie marker

black Sharpie marker

round magnets, one for each

white craft glue

To get the instructions and a printable version visit Salt Dough Sports Magnets on FamilyCorner.com