Cassy Dittman asks how should parents respond? The new year often means a new season of kids’ sports. Many families may be pondering whether to commit to another season or discovering their child is now saying they’d like to quit their usual sport. My husband and I...
Watching her son spend yet another game on the sideline prompts Rebecca Chaney to reflect on whether a winning-is-everything mentality belongs in children’s sport. My 12-year-old son’s football team won a hard-fought match on the weekend, but my son isn’t happy. My son played well, with...
After a dramatic year in which Elizabeth Reed introduced her son to all manner of sporting pursuits, he made it quite clear he wanted to write his own script. Ten years ago we had our first child, a son. Obviously he would enjoy sport; all boys...
Repeated concussions can thicken the skull, Monash University study finds Now that the winter sports season has finished, new research has found that repeated concussions can thicken the structure of skull bones. Previous studies have shown damage to the brain following concussion, but have not looked...
School playgrounds are getting squeezed, write researchers Brendon Hyndman, Jessica Amy Sears and Vaughan Cruickshank. Here are 8 ways to keep students active in small spaces. As enrolments climb and urban spaces become more crowded, some Australian schools have been left with less play space per...
How do we protect kids from abuse in sport, writes Blake Bennett, without creating a ‘culture of suspicion’ that ruins it for everyone? Although sport is often touted as a vehicle for positive experiences, many investigations into sporting cultures – particularly high performance sport – have...
Ruth Jeanes, Justen O’Connor, Dawn Penney, Ramon Spaaij, Dr Jonathan Magee, Dr Eibhlish O’Hara and Lisa Lymbery, report on the need for informal sport opportunities in Australia Statistics show a continued decline in organised sport participation over the past decade, with the Intergenerational Review of Australian...
Kids’ fitness is at risk while they miss sport and hobbies— but mums are getting more physical! Report Tim Olds, Carol Maher and Verity Booth. For most of our lives, the rhythms of our days are governed by crystallised routines: we get up, have breakfast, go...
The term 'sporting parent' has had a negative connotation for too long. It paints the picture of enraged parents turning up for battle at their child's weekend sporting fixture, writes author Nathan Parnham. What's wrong with wanting the best for your child if you go...
Not sure how to broach the sometimes tricky post-game conversation? We get a sport-parenting expert to share some of his top tricks. ...
