April 2008 Parent Newsletter
Helping Your Children Juggle School and Sports
As spring comes around the corner, so does a whole new group of spring sports. Whether you spend time on the soccer field, at the swimming pool, or on the baseball diamond, you and your children know it’s hard to juggle commitments to both school and sports. It can be accomplished successfully, however, with the right game plan. Here are a few tips.
Prioritize Current Commitments
Sit down together and create a list of the important commitments in your child’s life. Explain family comes first, followed by schoolwork and then sports. Most kids agree family is the most important commitment, but many have trouble understanding why schoolwork comes before sports. Explain that while sports keep them physically fit and are lots of fun, they take a good deal of time and energy. As long as children put that same amount of time and energy (and even more sometimes) into schoolwork, they will achieve a healthy balance.
Create Reasonable Schedules
Make a prioritized list of your child’s after-school activities, such as homework, guitar lessons, and soccer practice. Decide how much time is required for each activity and help your child create a schedule that makes time for everything. Remind your kids that the most difficult homework assignments should be completed before practice because they work better when they are fresh.
Keep the Lines of Communication Wide Open
Communication among parents, students, teachers, and coaches is paramount to balancing sports and schoolwork. Find out at the beginning of the season what the coach’s expectations are for the team, including practice and game times. Demonstrate your own good communication skills by alerting the coach ahead of time if your child will miss a practice or game because of a previously scheduled appointment. It’s also important to work directly with your child’s teacher to ensure you know right away if your child experiences falling grades or appears tired in class. Your school might even monitor the schoolwork of scholar-athletes to ensure no one falls behind. On a personal note, talk with your child about successful scholar-athletes in your neighborhood and explain how these kids achieve balance in their lives.
Balance the Demands of Sports and School
This is the perfect time for your child to learn the benefit of developing time-management skills. At first your daughter may not understand why she can’t play three sports at one time, but once she prioritizes current commitments and creates weekly schedules, she’ll see there are only 24 hours in each day. She’ll soon realize she can’t go to school all day, finish homework, attend soccer practice and then swim for three hours at a meet. If you are a good role model and set your own priorities and limits, your children will see people really can balance their commitments successfully and have fun.
2008 Parent Newsletters
2007 Parent Newsletters