How to run a great youth sports practice

By Jack Perconte, McClatchy-Tribune

Parents often have unrealistic expectations of youth sport coaches. After all, most youth sport coaches are volunteer coaches who are only coaching because their sons or daughters are playing the sport. However, this should not provide an excuse for volunteer coaches to lack, enthusiasm, preparation and at least some measure of expertise.

An often-used statement I use is that “Practice is the coaches’ time to shine, whereas, games are players time to shine.” For this to happen, it is necessary that youth sport coaches know how to run practices that are vibrant, informative and fun. With that in mind, running a great youth sport practice includes three main ingredients organization, activity, and teaching. One without the...

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Why avoiding conflict keeps you trapped in it forever

By Lisa McLeod, Hybrid Mom

Most people don’t like conflict. It feels risky and time consuming. They’re either afraid of it or they don’t want to expend the energy to deal with it.

The problem is, avoiding conflict doesn’t work either. It doesn’t reduce tension, if anything, it escalates it.

A reluctance to deal with conflict is hugely detrimental to business. Good ideas remain unspoken, people create silos, and leaders don’t get the information they need.

The post mortem on any business failure almost always reveals critical information went unaddressed because somebody was afraid to discuss it.

Avoiding conflict also wreaks havoc on relationships. Have you ever been around someone who was frustrated or...

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Moms share some of their regrets

By Caitlin Brody, TheBump.com

Nobody likes regrets, but when you’re a new mom or dad and every day presents a new challenge, you’re bound to face a few fumbles. Here, users of TheBump.com sound off on the top things they wish they could change about their own parenting (cue Cher’s “If I Could Turn Back Time”). And don’t be so hard on yourself — your little one won’t remember any of these new-mom blips (yes, really).

“I wish we would have taped the birth. I had my eyes closed from the pain, so I didn’t actually see him come out, which makes me sad.” — JKB1986

“I haven’t made baby books for any of my three kids. Now, I don’t remember exactly what their first word was or when they first...

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Tips for healthier eating

By Lynn La, McClatchy Newspapers

In a classroom located in a part of town where a stem of broccoli sells for $2.49 and a pizza costs only three bucks more, parents are trying their best.

They want to feed their kids healthier, home-cooked meals but have difficulty finding the time, money or resources to do so.

At Kaiser Permanente’s Rancho Cordova, Calif., medical offices, Dr. Catherine Vigran, a pediatrician, and Carrie Beale, a nurse practitioner, are hoping to change that.

“If you just fed your kids, and an hour later your son comes up to you and says, ‘I’m hungry,’ you can say, ‘I want you to have a glass of water,’ ” Beale tells the 20 or so parents, mostly mothers, sitting around a large table. As Beale continued giving tips for...

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What’s cool for back to school?

By LEANNE ITALIE, Associated Press

NEW YORK — What’s on top of the school supply list this year? It isn’t T-shirts and tennis shoes. It’s the other T, for mobile tech.

Kids as young as elementary age are looking for smartphone upgrades, while the college set is sussing out the explosion in tablets, said Craig Johnson, president of the retail consulting and research firm Customer Growth Partners in New Canaan, Conn.

“The single most important thing is the acceleration of technology for back to school. Kids don’t get excited about a new lunch box these days, or a new backpack. Cool means technology,” he said.

That means e-readers with high functionality like highlighting, underlining, pagination and touchscreens. “All...

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Backpack food programs help children in need

By MELISSA KOSSLER DUTTON, For The Associated Press

When Denver Public Schools counselor Patricia Vaughan noticed a third-grader leaving the building with a bulging backpack, she asked him what was inside.

She was stunned to see that the bag was full of food for him and his family. The youngster, who was the best tetherball player on the playground, had been letting other children win in return for food from their lunches.

“He very proudly exhibited all the food he had negotiated for at the lunch table,” she said. “I didn’t realize that there was this kind of need, and that kids were addressing it on their own. I felt glad that he was resilient enough to come up with a solution to take food home to his family.”

The conversation with...

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Help kids stay safe in the pool this summer

By Niesha Lofing, McClatchy Newspapers

I’ve done it more than once.

My two preschool-age children are happily splashing around in the wading pool just outside the screen door to our backyard when something calls me inside. A ringing phone, a buzzing oven timer, a lemonade request from one of the kids.

I dart into the house to fetch the phone, take out the cookies or fill cups with a mixture of water and lemonade (shh, don’t tell them), and dash back outside to watch my goofy kids play pirates or dinosaur scientists.

They’ve always been fine. But tragedy could have struck while I was gone.

A new study of childhood submersion incidents in portable, above-ground pools the first ever of its kind in the United States found that...

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The key to getting a child to open up? Say very little

McClatchy-Tribune

The key to getting a child to open up is to say very little. Simply use short phrases that reassure and prompt more conversation. This is particularly important at the beginning of a conversation because we want children to reach a point where they’re comfortable enough to express whatever is on their minds. To reach this point, they must know that we are present, paying attention, and have only their agenda in mind.

I am about to describe a way to talk to children that may seem stilted on first reading. It requires some practice to be able to sound authentic, rather than like someone who’s trying to impersonate a therapist. Therapists are trained to withhold comments because this is a tried-and-true way of making people feel...

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Male mentors step up to fill the hole in children’s’ lives

By Cathy Keen

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Desperately needed as youth mentors, some men are answering the call despite negative publicity about male transgressions that can keep them at arm’s length from children and teenagers, says a University of Florida researcher.

Today’s high rates of divorce, single parenting and working mothers place a greater premium on men in the community to nurture the next generation, but frequent media accounts about male pedophiles, pornographers and child abusers cast suspicion over well-intentioned efforts at helping, said William Marsiglio, a UF sociology professor and expert on men’s and family issues.

“Despite the challenges, there are men who develop a passion for working with kids — sometimes to the...

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Get some help with sleep training your baby

McClatchy-Tribune

New moms and dads know their lives will never be peaceful again until they have a full night’s sleep without a huge struggle. Now you can get a leg up in the difficult climb that is sleep training with the Goodnight Sleep Trainer.

Sleep training involves maintaining a balance between letting a baby cry and self-soothe back to sleep and you coming in to provide the baby comfort.

This system isn’t new, but like many things, it’s difficult to remember at 4 a.m. when you’ve had a grand total of six hours of sleep this week. The Goodnight Sleep Trainer is easy to operate:

Push “Down to Sleep” at bed or nap time.

Push “Up to Play” when sleep time is over.

Push “Crying” if baby cries...

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