Youth Sports vs. Family Time : 6 Tips for Finding Balance
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 spouse's, 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. These are sports 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 enjoy them, like bike riding, hiking, skating, sailing and running. Encourage them to play different sports and avoid early specialization. It will help them develop a variety of transferable motor skills such as jumping, running and 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.
