We celebrated Christmas early this year with my family in Florida.  We have found that the holidays are the holidays when we are all together, regardless of the actual date.  We will celebrate our own family Christmas here in North Carolina on the 25th.

For Christmas, Lincoln’s Grandaddy gifted him with his very first set of golf clubs.  To say Lincoln was excited was a HUGE understatement.  The gift was so thoughtful and kind.  Lincoln has spent hours upon hours swinging his clubs outside, getting a good feel for them and just smiling!!  I guess you could say it was a pretty special moment.  I’m sure someday Lincoln will learn to love golf as much as his Dad.  He will continue to practice, improve and will spend many, many hours out on the golf course with friends and family.

Those clubs will serve Lincoln until he grows out of them.  Then they will be passed down to his little cousin who will then grow out of them and pass them down again.  I am so grateful for the love of family Lincoln enjoys and is blessed with in his life.  I am grateful for his Grandaddy who takes so much time to make happy memories with him.

There truly is something so special about the love of family.  When all else fails, we will ALWAYS be supported and surrounded by family who loves us!!

To others, they may just look like a little set of golf clubs, but to me and my tween, they represent so much more…the love of FAMILY!!!

With the holiday season quickly approaching, we are reminded that they aren’t always happy for some who find themselves alone, abandoned or separated with distance from loved ones.  Are tweens exempt from the “blues?”  Absolutely not!  We need to look for the signs and be ready to listen, love and be aware!

Tweens are not exempt from the seasonal blues.  Especially when they have divorced parents, a parent serving and deployed in the military, or have had a parent or close person to them pass away.  The symptoms are the same for adults, however, the ability to handle the emotions and feelings may be different as it may be hard to communicate or peg point that’s where it’s coming from.

What are some symptoms for Seasonal Depression to be looking for:

1. Increase in headaches

2.  Too much or too little sleep

3.  Weight loss or gain

4.  Agitation, guilt, or an inability to concentrate

The warning signs for Stress include:

1. Pounding heart

2. Dryness in the mouth or throat

3.  Nervous tics, fatigue, loss of or excessive appetite

4.  Feeling an urge to cry, or increased irritability, restlessness, or depression.

So, this holiday season, be aware of your own emotions and also for your tweens.  Be on the lookout for signs and symptoms of possible problems.  Simplify.  Relax.  Keep a schedule, but try not to overschedule.  If you do have a child visiting another parent for the holidays, keep it upbeat and civil for the child’s sake.  No child/tween wants to upset a parent.  If you have a child with a deployed parent, take advantage of the programs the military offers, volunteer, send packages or cards to the troops and try to have some kid of communication.  If they get really bad or are refusing to talk, remember to seek medical and or professional help.

What have you found to be beneficial when dealing with emotional or moody tweens?

You’ve enrolled your tween in a sports program; you’re teaching them teamwork, leadership skills and they’re getting their exercise while they’re at it.  Right?  Well, while they might learn new skills and make new friends, they may not be reaping the health benefits you think.

Playing team sports does not guarantee that a child will get the U.S. government-recommended 60 minutes of moderate to vigorous exercise per day, a new study reveals.

Using accelerometers, a type of sensor that measures physical activity, researchers studied activity levels of 200 children aged 7 to 14 while they took part in practices with their soccer, baseball or softball teams.

Overall, only 24 percent of the children met the 60-minute physical activity recommendation during practice. Less than 10 percent of participants aged 11 to 14 and less than 2 percent of female softball players reached the guideline, said Desiree Leek, of San Diego State University/University of California, San Diego, and colleagues.

Among the other findings:

• Practice lengths ranged from 40 to 130 minutes for soccer and 35 to 217 minutes for baseball/softball, and players were moderately to vigorously active for an average of 45 minutes (46 percent) of the practice time.
• Soccer players were active for an average 13.7 more minutes and active for 10.6 percent more of practice time than baseball or softball players.
• Boys were active an average of 10.7 more minutes and 7.8 percent more of practice time than girls.
• Players aged 7 to 10 were moderately to vigorously active for 7 more minutes and 5.8 percent more of practice time than players aged 11 to 14.
• Overall, the players spent an average of 30 minutes being inactive during each practice.

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As you may know from an earlier post, both boys are trying basketball for the first time this winter. Since they are only 6 and 7 and 17 months apart, I thought they would be in the same league. Turns out, due to a very strange age cut off from MCCS, they are not. Sam was kept in the pee wee division while Jake was bumped up to the midget bracket. I am a bit worried this may leave Jake with a bad feeling about the sport.

While Jake looks like he is 9, he really is only 7 and that is how he plays basketball. He has never played before and it showed in his first practice. The other kids are all 8 or 9 and it is clear they have played before. Poor Jake had trouble dribbling and I could tell he knew he was behind the other kids. After watching Sam practice, I can see that Jake would be much more comfortable with the kids his own age.

The question is…..will the coach understand and will the parents expect him to play like the 9 year old he appears to be. When I told him he was 7 I could see the look on his face. I went on to explain that MCCS put him on that team and would not change it. Basically, this will go one of two ways…the coach will be wonderful and really make Jake feel OK about being younger and learning from the older kids OR he will want to win so badly that Jake won’t see much playing time and he’ll be made to feel like the kid they don’t want on the team. Here’s hoping for the first option!

Have you had sports issues with your kids and their age? Do your kids look older than they are so is more expected of them?

I am 5’11″ and my husband is 6’1″…needless to say our kids are tall. With height comes the inevitable question “do you play basketball?”  I am not sure why height is the only qualification for that but yes, my husband and I both did. Now it is time for Jake and Sam to take a shot (get it…shot:)) at the game I played all through high school and loved so much. This past week both boys had their very first basketball practice for their teams on base.

1992...when I could still make it up and down the court

Now I don’t have a crystal ball….I have NO idea if either of them will be any good or even enjoy shooting hoops. We have tried to expose them to a variety of sports, hoping they will find at least one they really like. It is not that I think they will be superstars at any of them. They will be tall boys…that will be a good thing should they decide to take on something like basketball or football, but they also like lacrosse and tennis. I just want them to find one they can be passionate about because to me, sports was not just about the game, but about the friends and lessons, too.

It is cliche to say sports teaches teamwork, but it’s true. You learn to work for a common goal with other people. Those people become a support group in school and we all know how tweens need that. They need kids they can be with who are hard workers and who choose to fill their time wisely rather than hanging around on a street corner. That is really what I want for the boys. If they happen to be great and bring home trophies that would be icing on the cake.

For now, I want them to learn the rules of the game (and learn to dribble:)). Once they have those basics, they can decide to pursue it or not. Whatever they choose…basketball or swimming….I want them to learn to give 100% and be good sports.

Do your tweens play sports? What has it done for them?