Do your dishes really need to be dried, or could you just let water evaporate? If you spend just 5 minutes per meal drying dishes, that equals a quarter of an hour per day, or 91 hours each year.

Imagine spending almost four days in a row standing at sink drying dishes. No eating. No sleeping. No bathroom breaks. Just drying dishes for four days straight.

Now imagine doing something else with that time. Savoring fresh air. Going on a camping trip. Playing with your children. Volunteering at food bank. Upgrading your career skills. You can do a lot in four days.

Or you can dry dishes.

Sounds obvious like that but it is scary how many parents I saw in my career that where seeing their son or daughter as winner they never were or as champion that they always wished to be. Do not forget: YOU ARE NOT DOING THE SPORT, YOUR KID IS!

Oh, we all know some success stories about a young gymnast who made it to Olympics or a tennis player who turned pro early despite their tyrannical parents. But for 1 kid who made it, how many childhoods were broken? Thousands? Tens of thousands? Let kids be kids. If your kid is good and has talent and mind to go far, he will, with or without you. When I am talking to parents, I always say: "It is tough for a parent to help their kids to achieve success while it is so easy to make them fail!" Let me refer to Issue #1 of Sports & Kids Newsletter for a humoristic but very true list of some "Don't". Now, you will ask me: "Ok Mario, that is nice, do not push your children. Yeah, yeah! But I don't want my son or daughter to be a quitter, to always look for easy way out when things are tough." Yep, you're right! You know old saying: "When going get tough, tough get going!" As parents we all want our kids to be among toughs. This is absolutely normal. But who said it is easy to be a parent? ;-)

First, it depends on age of children. Between 3 and 5 years old, we usually decide where we sign them up. Sometimes, if they have older brothers and sisters they might tell you: "I wanna play soccer" or "I wanna do cartwheels like my sister" but usually it is parent's decision. We are usually influenced by neighbors, family, and local publicity. And of course, since it is our decision and not theirs, chances to get it wrong are larger. You have to watch carefully your kid's attitude. Do not get too worried when they complain when you interrupt their playing time to go swimming lesson or soccer game. It is normal and usually has more to do with fact that they have to stop their actual playing. As soon as they realize that they will be playing somewhere else they will be happy again. But if they are still complaining even when they are practicing their sport then you should start asking yourself questions. If it is a fight every time, do not hesitate and try something else. Do not wait too long. They will not become quitters at this time. They just want to have fun at this age. Most organizations have a refund policy, ask for it at sign-up.