Can’t make the game? Drop the guilt and pick up the conversation

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Backyard Sports Timeout – Where our coaches field parents’ questions about Team Sports and offer ways to make it the Fun, Enriching Experience it’s supposed to be Is it realistic to enroll our 5th grader in a team sport if our schedules don't allow us to attend all the games and practices? I'm afraid my son will feel like we don't care. Should we skip enrolling this year or make the best of it? A: When I was growing up in suburbia I knew two kids who came from single parent homes. They Read more [...]

Sweetie, did you have fun out there today?

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In a recent BYS Timeout Post, I counseled a parent who was unsure how to guide his child through the team sports journey and it got me to thinking about my own experience. For the past 12+ years while my daughter, Sydney, was in school, she would come home and every day I would ask, "Hey sweetie, how was school today?" She would respond, "It was fine." We just chewed the fat in a meandering sort of way  -- I never forced the school conversations because I trusted what was going on; I didn't Read more [...]

Be the rudder, not the wind

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Backyard Sports Timeout – Where our coaches field parents’ questions about Team Sports and offer ways to make it the Fun, Enriching Experience it’s supposed to be Q: What does my child really need from me as a parent to better guide her as a team sports player? A: The job of the parent is to guide their children toward long-term development and to help them make decisions. We do this academically and socially, but when it comes to sports, we don’t think about these things long-term. Read more [...]