SUSAN S. WILDER, M.D.
CEO & FOUNDER OF
LIFESCAPE MEDICAL
ASSOCIATES &
LIFESCAPE PREMIER
Y
outh sports are fertile teaching grounds for critical
skills like working collaboratively towards a
common goal, personal and group accountability,
and how to win humbly and lose thoughtfully. Kids learn
how to listen, take direction, inspire others, be good
sports, forgive mistakes, improve skills, and try harder.
Kids learn resilience by failing and learning to recover
without parental rescue.
Parents must tread extremely carefully in this arena,
lest our overzealous support devolve into modeling
poor sportsmanship, destructive criticism, disruption
of coaching, and erosion of our child’s accountability,
esteem, and sense of accomplishment.
Unfortunately, you can’t pass through youth sports
without witnessing these toxic behaviors, but we can
do our best to actively model and foster the opposite.
Start by cheering for good plays for both teams, praising
work ethic, attitude and spirit rather than outcome, and
allowing our kids to fully enjoy their sport without our
insecure ego attachments.
One of my all-time favorite parenting guides, William
Martin’s “The Parent’s Tao Te Ching,” notes: “If you push
your children, they will lose their balance. If you are
always running them here or there, they will go nowhere.
If you put them in the spotlight, they will be unable to
see their own light. If you seek to impose upon them
your own ideas of who they should be, they will become
nothing. If you want them to thrive, do what you can for
their safety, then let go.”
FALL 2017
maskmatters.org
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one minute, engaging
the core so your body
doesn’t wiggle or move.
6: BRIDGE-UPS
WORK YOUR BELLY,
BUTT AND HIPS
Begin by laying on the
floor on your back with
your heels underneath
you. Lift your hips high
off the floor, tucking
your chin into your chest.
Lift and lower the hips,
squeezing your core,
glutes and quads.
Try going faster
and slower, but
don’t stop for
one minute.
7: PUSH
UP SWIM
TONE THOSE
SHOULDERS,
ARMS AND ABS
For beginners, get on
your hands and knees,
keeping your back
straight from your butt
to the top of your head.
Bend your elbows,
lowering your chest to
the floor. Chest stays
open and shoulders
back. Push yourself
back up, then take one
arm and circle it all the
way around and back
to the floor (looks like
you’re doing a swim
stroke). Alternate
sides for one minute.
Rx for Families
LIFESCAPE PREMIER
8757 E. Bell Road, Scottsdale
480-860-5269
lifescapepremier.com
KEEP
A
COOL
HEAD
