Are sports the key to success in business?

Did you play high school baseball? Compete with your travel soccer team as a kid? You’re hired, says Michel Nilles, CEO of AAA Commercial Broker and Consultancy firm.

Whether you participated in a rec league or got a college scholarship, Nilles says experience playing sports gives candidates looking to get into the business world a leg up.

“I believe playing sports at a young age is beneficial in cementing certain personality traits which fuels success in business later in life,” Nilles says. “After all, most people, unless they’re in the minority, play a sport before they even sell lemonade at a lemonade stand as a kid.”

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by allieward89 on April 16, 2012  •  Permalink
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Posted by allieward89 on April 16, 2012

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How not to praise your kids

“Great job sweetie! You’re so smart!”

These nice words of encouragement could actually be doing the opposite for your child. A landmark 1998 Columbia University study suggests that praising your kids, especially for “being smart,” may not be the best thing for them.

Psychologist Carol Dweck has been studying the effects of praise for 15 years and says praising a child’s intelligence can lead to problems with motivation and perception of abilities. Children who are repeatedly told they are are “smart” usually have one of two reactions. One: they perceive themselves as “smart” and avoid risks and avoid being challenged. Two: they equate smart with success and either automatically expect to succeed or fail based on whether they are told they’re “smart.” Read the full post »

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by allieward89 on April 2, 2012  •  Permalink
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Race to Nowhere: Redefining success for kids

Race to Nowhere

Much of what’s written about overscheduled children focuses on home life and how parents are often to blame. But what if it’s not their fault? Race to Nowhere, a 2009 documentary by filmmakers Vicki Abeles and Jessica Congdon, explores the bigger picture and suggests that this overscheduled mentality is part of a larger systemic problem.

“Rushing from class to sports practice, from community work to homework, and relying increasingly on stimulants and sleep deprivation, these kids seem more pressured than the average C.E.O.,” wrote Jeanette Catsoulis in her New York Times review of the film. “Documenting consequences that range from depression to eating disorders to suicide, the film’s medical professionals share Ms. Abeles’s alarm and her awareness that blame, if it exists, is systemic and with little current incentive to change.”

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by allieward89 on March 25, 2012  •  Permalink
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Posted by allieward89 on March 25, 2012

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Youth bodybuilding on the rise

A homemade YouTube video featuring two brothers from Romania made its rounds on the web earlier this month, igniting a firestorm of criticism and outrage. The boys in the clip are bodybuilders, and have been trained by their father from the time they were each two years old. During a recent morning workout (they are required to train for two hours each morning), the boys flex for the camera and perform mouth-dropping feats of physical strength, stopping briefly to get oiled up by their father before continuing to bend, lift, curl and flip.

So what exactly is the problem?

Giuliano and his brother Claudio are just seven and five, respectively.

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by allieward89 on March 20, 2012  •  Permalink
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Posted by allieward89 on March 20, 2012

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The problem with kiddie pageants

weheartit.com

As much as I love reality television, there are some shows out there that promote parenting styles that are, in a word, disturbing. Some of the most controversial things parents do revolve around kiddie beauty pageants, caught on tape by shows like TLC’s Toddlers & Tiaras.

Girls as young as three and four flounce around in short skirts with caked-on makeup, hair extensions and spray tans. Most of these children, some visibly uncomfortable, are pushed by their parents into competing for the crown and, most often, money. These kids aren’t living a normal childhood. They’re being programmed to look mature, act mature and to win at all costs, and that can have lasting impressions on them as they get older.

The problem with these kinds of pageants is that they are promoting the wrong things. Parents are over-sexualizing their daughters, pushing them too hard and parading them around like show ponies.

“I wouldn’t say these are the ‘worst parents’ – the worst would be those who actually abuse. These parents run a close second, however, as they are selfish…spoiling their children, and training them that their value is based on their beauty,” explained Dr. Nancy Irwin, a Los Angeles-based psychotherapist.

Check out the clips after the jump to see how extreme some of these pageant parents can get.

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by allieward89 on March 6, 2012  •  Permalink
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https://thesuperscheduledchild.wordpress.com/2012/03/06/the-problem-with-kiddie-pageants/

From a coach’s perspective

Courtesy of Connections Gymnastics

From magazines to books, talk show segments to blog posts, there is so much parenting advice out there when it comes to overscheduled kids. But what seems to be missing from the conversation is the role a child’s coach or instructor plays. How do they know when a child is being pushed too hard, either by a parent or at practice? When, if ever, do they intervene?

I decided to take a look at one of the most demanding, grueling sports out there—gymnastics. At Connections Gymnastics in Robbinsville, N.J., owner Lori SanSoucie has been training gymnasts of all ages for the last 18 years. She sat down with me during a recent practice to discuss her role as mediator between the parent and the child.

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by allieward89 on February 27, 2012  •  Permalink
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Posted by allieward89 on February 27, 2012

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Is your child too stressed out?

Learn the 5 signs of burnout and what to do about it

sohoparenting.com

Baseball practice at 6 p.m. on Mondays, Wednesday and Fridays; ballet every other Tuesday; guitar lessons Thursdays from 5 to 6:30 p.m. except the second week of the month when it’s 6 to 7:30; after-school drama club performances; gymnastics competitions on the weekends.

Sound familiar? If you’re stressed out just getting them to their weekly activities, chances are your kids are feeling the pressure too. But how do you know when they’re doing too much? Look for what experts agree are the common signs of burnout in kids and take steps to modify that crazy routine.

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by allieward89 on February 17, 2012  •  Permalink
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Posted by allieward89 on February 17, 2012

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Where do I fall on the parenting scale?

While many critics are quick to pin the blame on parents for overscheduling and micromanaging their children’s lives, there’s a part of the bigger picture they may be missing—the struggle parents face to do what’s right.

But what exactly IS right? What’s the right way to parent? Here’s where the trouble begins because there is no one, right way. Some worry that if they don’t push their son or daughter into every possible activity at an early age, he or she will miss their calling and their futures will be somehow irreparably damaged. Chances are, that’s probably not true.

The parenting scale comes with extremes and then a happy medium. See examples of these after the jump and decide where you fall on the scale.

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by allieward89 on February 15, 2012  •  Permalink
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Posted by allieward89 on February 15, 2012

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Is overscheduling your child really a bad thing?

ivillage.com

We’ve been conditioned to believe that extracurricular activities are enriching, that participating in sports or dance or playing a musical instrument is “fun” for kids. But then there are those who say unstructured play time is what children really need and that too many activities are stressing kids out. Who’s right?

With the many books, TV segments and news blurbs, you’d think overscheduling is akin to beating your children. But there has got to be some good in expanding your child’s horizons, no?

We at The Super-Scheduled Child aren’t parents, so we turned to the experts to see whether overscheduling your child is necessarily a bad thing. What are the benefits and what are the negatives?

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by allieward89 on February 6, 2012  •  Permalink
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Posted by allieward89 on February 6, 2012

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Parents, are you part of the problem?

Are overscheduled kids the product of raw childhood ambition or hyper-parenting?

While trying out for the baseball team or signing up for art classes may be what the child wants, parents sometimes play a role, too. “Hyper-parenting,” a term coined by psychiatrist Dr. Alvin Rosenfeld in his book “The Over-Scheduled Child: Avoiding the Hyper-Parenting Trap,” is reflected in a parent who attempts to control every aspect of their child’s life, a kind of intense micromanager. Some parents will claim that these organized activities “keep kids off the streets,” but whatever happened to having a childhood? And what is a “normal” childhood in today’s society anyway?

“The tragedy is that we’ve been told that to be good parents we have to steal childhood,” Rosenfeld said in a 2007 CBS News 60 Minutes television special (see clip after the jump). “We have to take every minute of  kids’ time and we have to schedule it becase we know what’s right.”

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by allieward89 on January 27, 2012  •  Permalink
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Posted by allieward89 on January 27, 2012

https://thesuperscheduledchild.wordpress.com/2012/01/27/test-post-1/