Self-Defeating Attitude: 4 Ways to Help Your Child

Adults are not the only ones who can have an attitude which is in line with self-defeat. This kind of behavior may even start during their younger years. More and more people are being noticed with this kind of behavior. If you are a parent and you have observed signs of this kind of behavior on your child then it is about time for you to take actions before it gets worse.

1st Step: Learn to Listen

When you are dealing with your kids and you want to help them become a better person by gradually eliminating those unfavorable traits such as self-defeat, you must learn how to listen. Listening is an integral part of any relationship especially on a parent-child level. You will not be able to help anybody, not even your kids if you do not know how to do this properly. Whenever your child is sharing something, may it be about their frustrations at school, patiently hear them out and avoid making reactions especially if they share an event which they are not supposed to be involved in. By listening to them, they will be more comfortable talking to you.

2nd Step: Let them Know That You Care

After listening to what your child has to say, it is now to let them know that you care about them. This should be established even before you give out any advice. If you have shared your piece and your child does not feel that you care for them, they will just reject your help never share their feelings with you ever again.

3rd Step: Believe In Your Child

After building trust and showing that you genuinely care for your child, you would then have to demonstrate that you believe in them. You need to show that you know they can change and they can turn their life around and become somebody which they have always wanted to be. This will help them realize that they can do it and they would need all the support that they can get especially from their parents.

4th Step: Make Them Feel Safe with You

This goes beyond the actual and physically holding your child. This signifies that you have to make your child realize that they are safe with you and that you will hold whatever conversation that you both had in confidence. They must realize that you will always be there to help them get through all of it. As a parent, you will be playing an important role in the development of your kids as a person. You need to be there whenever they need you. If you think that you and your child would need further help, you can always seek the assistance of an expert.

Flag Football 2013 Recap

Wow time fly's when LIFE takes over...

2013 has come and gone.  We had another stellar year of flag football.  The team had a rough go of things starting off 0-5.  Some sense of "we suck" took hold among a few of the team members and parents. As the coach I felt it was my job to just keep reiterating, especially to the kid's, that they were a very talented bunch and their hard work be worth it in the end.

We went on to win 5 of our next 6 games including the playoffs eventually losing by 1 point to the league Champions.   (This was a team that destroyed every team they faced in the playoffs)

It was a really good learning experience for many people involved about not giving up and to keep fighting.  I was really proud of our accomplishments for the season.

Flag Football Playoff Weekend - Part 2

This update was a long time coming,  after Hurricane Sandy we were without power for a week and then clean up concerns took over and before I knew it a month had passed.  Well I finally decided to sit down and update results of our last playoff game.

The short of it was we ended up losing.   It was a good game between two quality teams, and in the end was decided by less than a touchdown.  The final score:  18-14.    It was close the entire game and we had a chance to go ahead in the end, however it was not to be.

Overall is was a good season after going 0-2, we only lost 1 game over the next month and a half.  Final record 8-3-2,  not bad for a team full of random kids who never played together before.

Flag Football Playoff Weekend - Part 1

Our local flag football team made it through 2 games this weekend to move into the next round of play-offs next week.

Our first game went really well we got off to a 19-0 start and ultimately ended winning 19-15 after giving up a late score in the last 5 minutes.   The good thing about this is, it was a very tough team that we had previous had lost to.

Our second game was a sloppy affair and we managed to win 25-19 despite mistake riddled play.    Historically my teams have all played incredibly poorly on late Sunday afternoons for some reason.  In fact our last loss was way back in September, and it was a Sunday aftertnoon game that was scheduled as make up game due to the fields flooding during a rain storm on the previous Wednesday.

I decided not to dwelll on it, after-all win is a win.  We will practice this week, and correct our mistakes and come out next Saturday and play great football.

If you want to see the drills and plays we use Youth Flag Football HQ is a great resource.

Coaches' Playbook: Trips End Around

Youth Flag Football HQ has posted my newest youth flag football play writeup. 

The Trips End Around is a really useful play but requires a good amount of practice to get it right.   Our team has scored many touch downs and first downs off this play with both running or throwing.   Make sure the runner executing the end around has some decent throwing ability too.   Once my players are comfortable with this play I let the receiver make the read to throw a pass or run.   Often the defense will move forward to pull the runners flag leaving the deep sideline uncovered.

The Culture of Snacks - Part 2

In my previous post I discussed whether or not it was necessary to offer snacks to children in youth sports.  Assuming we all agree for the moment that there is no harm to offering our kids a snack at the end of play, then this begs the question of what kind of snacks should we offer?

One parent, who has a background in nutrition and athletic training, suggested avoiding sugary and processed foods in favor of healthy snacks.  This parent was particularly concerned about the link between processed foods and the rates of obesity, cancer, and other diseases.

I felt a bit remiss as a parent and a coach that I had never thought of this before.   It also made me wonder why the concept was not more prevalent in youth sports?   I was also surprised when the idea was met with disinterest and in one case out right resistance.

Obesity is a rising crisis in the country.  The USA now has one of the highest rates of obesity among all developed nations. Childhood obesity in particular is something we as parents and coaches should be concerned with.   Information of the The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website states that:

"Obesity now affects 17% of all children and adolescents in the United States - triple the rate from just one generation ago."

The CDC also makes the following suggestions for parents to help fight childhood obesity:

 

Provide more fruits and vegetables, limit foods high in fat and sugar, and prepare healthier foods at family meals.

Serve water instead of sugar drinks.

Encourage physical activity every day.

 

It therefore seems counterproductive to give our players unhealthy snacks at the end of an athletic event, considering we are actually trying to promote staying active to encourage our kids to stay fit and healthy.   Also if we are going to prepare healthier options for our family meals, why not at game time too?

Choosing to offer healthy alternatives to processed foods gets kids into healthy habits at a young age.  In doing so we help curb bad habits now, and provide our children healthy nutritional habits that will stay with them as they develop into young adults.

Coach's Playbook: Trips Receiver Screen

"Trips Receiver Screen" is run out of the Trips flag football formation just like my previous 2 flag football plays, "Trips Center Screen"  and "Trips Swing Pass"

The 3 wide receivers (A, B, D)  line up to the far right near the sideline and close together (this is the same for all "Trips" formations).  The quarterback (Q) is under center (C) and the running back (R) is lined up on the opposite side from where the wide outs are lined up, 3-4 yards deep.

At the snap of the ball the 2 wide receivers on the inside both run deep post patterns.  The center (C) will run a deep flag pattern.  These are the decoys.  The running back (R) short out pattern just beyond the line of scrimmage.  Receiver A take a small studder step forward and turns to face the quarterback.   The quarterback (Q) should pump fake toward one of the deep receivers (B, C or D) then turn quickly and throw the ball to receiver A.   Depending on the rules of your league it may be necessary for A to step forward over the line of scrimmage before the pass is thrown.

The play is designed to catch the defender back pedaling to cover D & B as they start to pass by or moving out of position on the pump fake.    If the corner back is getting aggressive and moving up to cover A, or trying to jump the route to intercept the ball,  then you can have A run a stop&go instead.    In this case the quarterback should pump hard to A and as the defender moves up, A should sprint past and down the side line. 

 

You can also use this play to set up several other options from this same formation:

• A fast hand-off to the running back (R) 
• Faking a hand-off to the running back then throwing deep to one of the wide outs - D, C, or B.
• Fake to A then throw deep to D, C or B

For more flag football plays & drills go to Youth Flag Football HQ