Last night I was talking with a mom whose kids were playing multiple sports at the same time. I’m not talking high school kids here; I’m talking elementary school age. All I could think was, where is this headed? At that pace, they will soon find themselves a slave to the very thing that started out as fun and satisfying.
Do you feel you are headed in that same direction? Are you feeling the subtle spiral of youth sports sucking you in? Before you wake up one day and find that it has made you its slave, here’s how you can guard against that.
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Don’t be in a hurry.
Your child has many years tofind their sweet spot and true passion when it comes to sports. You don’t have to figure it out in year one or two.
Youth sports is not a race. It’sa journey that will take you inmany directions, but not all atthe same time.
I’ve seen so many sports parents push their young athletes to work on their skills, make the elite teams, go to the best clinics and camps, as if their child’s entire future depended on them excelling NOW.
Kids need to be gently pushed, challenged and encouraged to grow and take risks, but parents should not hurry their development; it will happen as they grow and learn to love the game.
Make family a priority.
If you find that you have no time to enjoy family, then you are robbing your kids of one of their strongest emotional building blocks.
Whatever that looks like for you, make it happen. For us, it often meant going to one child’s tournaments as a family. And sometimes it meant taking that vacation during the summer when travel ball beckoned or open gyms called.
Youth sports and family time can co-exist, but it will take planning and a resolve to not let the schedule tear them apart.
Let your kids have time to be kids.
If your child has no time to hang out with friends, relax in front of the TV for an hour or just have an afternoon of doing nothing, they are probably too busy. Kids need to have time to be kids, to play, be creative and find their own solutions to being bored. You don’t have to schedule every hour of the day for them. Let them have time when they have to figure out what to do.
Don’t automatically say yes to another season.
Just because your child played one sport for a couple of years, doesn’t mean they want to continue. Don’t assume each season. Talk it over with your child and find out what they are thinking. Re-evaluate the youth sports toll on your family and finances. Commit to a season, yes, but you don’t have to sign up for life.
You can take back control over your youth sports schedule and stop letting it take over every area of your life.
— Janis B. Meredith, a coach’s wife for 29 years and sports mom for 22 years, lives in Alva, where she writes about character in youth sports on JBMThinks.com.