Are you a year-round sports family? Do you go from season to season with barely a break? If that’s your family, chances are pretty good that you go through slumps when you are tired and youth sports becomes a huge chore. If you do not take time to get re-charged and get your second wind, several things could happen:
- Youth Sports will become a chore, instead of fun.
- When Youth Sports becomes a chore, you will most likely become grumpy and resentful of the time it takes.
- When you become grumpy and resentful, you will probably miss out on the joys, victories, and milestones in your child’s life.
If the demands of youth sports are driving you to exhaustion, perhaps these ideas will help you get your second wind. Get Fueled What fuels you? Time with friends? A day at the Beach? An afternoon reading? Figure out what energizes you and then do it. Even if it means the house does not get cleaned or the yard does not get mowed. Believe me, there will always be time for that later. For today, for this week, it’s more important that you have the energy to enjoy your kids. You can’t expect a car to run on gas fumes; it needs a fill-up to keep going. So do you! Live in the Moment Children have an uncanny ability to enjoy now, without thinking about tomorrow or next week. It’s a shame really, that as you grow up, you lose that in-the-moment mindset. Of course, you have responsibilities and plans for the future, but if you could put them aside more often and not let them crowd your today, you would probably enjoy life a lot more. There will come a day when the hours of game-watching and tournament traveling will be nothing but memories. I believe that the ability to live in the moment, to enjoy each day, each trip, each game, and each adventure, will not only make those memories sharper and sweeter, it will help you stay re-charged. Let Loose Laughter is medicine to the soul. It is a wonderful re-charging, second-wind tonic to our mind and body. But sometimes parents get so uptight about youth sports that you may wonder if they remember how to smile. I think youth sports could do with a lot more laughter, don’t you? I’m a firm believer in parents being silly with their kids because not only does laughter heal, it breaks down barriers and helps build bonds. Allow yourself to cut loose with your kids. Your own laughter, and the laughter of your kids, will clear away some of the youth sports cobwebs and could go a long way towards re-charging your sports parenting batteries. You Can Always Say NO And if all else fails, take a step back, re-adjust your priorities and start saying no to activities that are draining your family. Janis Meredith, sports mom and coach’s wife, writes a sports parenting blog called JBM THINKS. 
