Well, it is not news that parents are uber-invested in the success, performance and development of their children, as well they should be. What is becoming increasingly prevalent is the amount of money, time and energy is spent making these pieces possible. The number of performance coaches (fitness, psychology, sport-specific, positional) kids have today, in addition to the number of hours spent watching, playing, studying, talking about sport is really obscene. If your vacations, family outings, weeknights, dinner conversations, and every waking hour are spent dedicated to some element of your child’s sport then it may have gone too far. Think about the time you spend together. Are weekends spent watching college or professional baseball, while vacations are centered around Spring training, and weekends are at the batting cage, ballpark and/or supporting the local minor league club, dinners are spent analyzing the pitch count, the error at second, the decision to steal home? Are you finding “other” ways to spend your time? Are you allowing everyone, parents included, a break from the sport-related culture? We coach kids on not watching too much television, not letting pop culture dictate dress, attitude and beliefs, yet we allow sport to infiltrate nearly every crevice of our/and their existance. How much is too much?
