Episode #4: Self-esteem of my Raising Young Athletes podcast explores how self-esteem impacts young athletes' athletic and personal development. Self-esteem involves how children come to perceive and value themselves, in other words, do they see themselves worthwhile people deserving of love and respect. Self-esteem influences happiness, well-being, goals, and success, among many other outcomes. This [...]
I just read a fascinating article by David Epstein, the author of The Sports Gene, that further supports my position that early specialization in sports (or any achievement area, for that matter) is not the path to later success. He recounts research and anecdotes in which children who didn't specialize early went on to have [...]
Episode #2: Values in Youth Sports of my Raising Young Athletes podcast explores the importance of values in your children's sports experience. I consider why why values have such an impact, the presence of healthy and unhealthy values in youth sports, how kids learn values, and how parents can ensure that their children develop only [...]
The New York Times just published a revealing article about Norway's approach to youth sports that provides a painful juxtaposition to the often-times toxic "youth sport industrial complex" that currently has gone off the rails in the U.S. The article offers some valuable insights into how youth sports can be returned to its original health [...]
In Episode #1 of his Raising Young Athletes podcast, Dr. Jim Taylor discusses The Power of Sport Parents.
In an era in which young women are receiving so many mixed messages about who they can be and who they should be. In a time when so many young women are spending too much time staring at screens that are shaping the way they think and feel about themselves, mostly for the negative. At [...]
In addition to working with young athletes in many sports, I also consult with sport parents to help them to provide to their young athletes the most positive support they can. Being a great sport parent is no small feat or easy task these days for several reasons. First, we live in a youth-sport culture [...]
I’ve been involved in youth sports for—Yikes!—more than 50 years. As a child, I played Little League baseball and soccer, but my main sport was alpine ski racing (I know, not your typical suburban sport). Since then, I’ve been actively involved in youth sports as a mental coach. In these capacities, it seems as if [...]
Like I said, sports parents, we have a problem. Want to know the problem? Well, look in the mirror. I don’t mean to insult you by indicting you as being the problem as an individual parent. I don’t know you or how you are with your children in their sports lives. I’m talking about the [...]
My last blog post about over-invested sports parents caught fire with more than 14,000 views. With the winter-sports season just around the corner, I get the feeling that parents are hungry for helpful tips on how best to support their young athletes this season. So, to keep that mo’ going, this week’s post will focus [...]
