Sports are a great way for kids to have fun, stay fit, improve skills, and make friends. But it's not always fun and games out on the field or court. The pressure to succeed can be overwhelming — and that can lead to a lot of frustration and tears.

In some cases, sports pressure is self-inflicted. Some kids are natural perfectionists and are just too hard on themselves when things don't go their way. But more often than not, the pressure is external: Kids try to satisfy the demands of a parent, coach, or other authority figure and end up feeling like winning is the only way to gain the approval of the adults they respect.

Either way, how kids learn to cope with sports pressure — and what the adults in their lives teach them about it, either directly or indirectly — not only affects their performance and enjoyment of the sport, but can have a lasting impact on how they deal with similar challenges throughout life.

How Stress Affects Performance
Stress is a double-edged sword. On the one hand, it prepares the body to rise to a challenge with focus, strength, stamina, and heightened alertness. On the other hand, too much of it can exhaust a kid's energy and drive, leading to sports burnout.

Events that provoke stress are called stressors, and they can be positive (such as trying to impress a college scout out on the sidelines) or negative (trying to play a game after the sudden death of a friend or loved one).

• Positive stress comes from taking part in something that's enjoyable yet challenging. This type of stress provides energy and pumps us up and keeps us on our toes, providing a healthy spark for the tasks we undertake.
• Negative stress comes from having to face too many unwanted demands. If your child had a fight with a close friend, missed the bus, and forgot his or her homework, it can be pretty hard to get in the right frame of mind for the afternoon tennis match.

How to Help
Parents can probably spot the difference between their child's good and bad stress simply by noticing kids' game-time interactions. For example, is your child focused and ready for action or is nervous energy getting the best of him or her? How does your child handle mistakes? Is he or she a good sport or do emotions get out of control? Of course, some of this has to do with your child's personality. Like adults, some kids are naturally more adept at remaining calm under pressure.

What may be a little harder to spot, though, is the role you and other trusted adults might play in your child's handling of stressful situations. For example, parents who place a lot of weight on their kids' sports accomplishments run the risk of adding to a child's stress.

Of course it's good for your kids to see you taking an interest in their activities, but there's a fine line between encouraging a child and pushing too hard. Overzealous parents tend to overreact to mistakes, game losses, and skipped practices, which often causes kids to do the same. And when kids beat themselves up over mistakes, they're missing an important opportunity to learn how to correct problems and develop resiliency.

Similarly, check your sideline behaviors. Words have incredible power, so use them carefully, especially when you disagree with coaches and umpires. Praise specific good efforts by your child and other players, even after a loss, and offer criticism constructively and not in the heat of the moment. Make sure your child knows you understand that a game is just a game.

Playing sports can impart many wonderful life lessons — valuing teamwork, overcoming challenges, controlling emotions, taking pride in accomplishments — but only if you stay out of the way and let your kids learn them. In fact, by taking a step back, you're showing your kids that you trust them to handle situations on their own.

To read more please click on the link: http://kidshealth.org/parent/positive/family/sports_competition.html#

We've told you why some kids don't like to read and what other parents believe will not succeed in changing their minds. Now for some ways to turn a young reader's reluctance into enthusiasm: 

1. Scout for things your children might like to read. Use their interests and hobbies as starting points. 

2. Leave all sorts of reading materials including books, magazines, and colorful catalogs in conspicuous places around your home. 

3. Notice what attracts your children's attention, even if they only look at the pictures. Then build on that interest; read a short selection aloud, or simply bring home more information on the same subject. 

4. Let your children see you reading for pleasure in your spare time. 

5. Take your children to the library regularly. Explore the children's section together. Ask a librarian to suggest books and magazines your children might enjoy. 

6. Present reading as an activity with a purpose—a way to gather useful information for, say, making paper airplanes, identifying a doll or stamp in your child's collection, or planning a family trip. 

7. Encourage older children to read to their younger brothers and sisters. Older children enjoy showing off their skills to an admiring audience. 

8. Play games that are reading-related. Check your closet for spelling games played with letter tiles or dice, or board games that require players to read spaces, cards, and directions. 

9. Perhaps over dinner, while you're running errands, or in another informal setting, share your reactions to things you read, and encourage your children to do likewise. 

10. Set aside a regular time for reading in your family, independent of schoolwork—the 20 minutes before lights out, just after dinner, or whatever fits into your household schedule. As little as 10 minutes of free reading a day can help improve your child's skills and habits. 

11. Read aloud to your child, especially a child who is discouraged by his or her own poor reading skills. The pleasure of listening to you read, rather than struggling alone, may restore your child's initial enthusiasm for books and reading. 

12. Encourage your child to read aloud to you an exciting passage in a book, an interesting tidbit in the newspaper, or a joke in a joke book. When children read aloud, don't feel they have to get every word right. Even good readers skip or mispronounce words now and then. 

13. On gift-giving occasions, give books and magazines based on your child's current interests. 

14. Set aside a special place for children to keep their own books. 

15. Introduce the bookmark. Remind your youngster that you don't have to finish a book in one sitting; you can stop after a few pages, or a chapter, and pick up where you left off at another time. Don't try to persuade your child to finish a book he or she doesn't like. Recommend putting the book aside and trying another. 

16. Treat your children to an evening of laughter and entertainment featuring books! Many children (parents, too) regard reading as a serious activity. A joke book, a story told in riddles, or a funny passage read aloud can reveal another side of reading. 

17. Extend your child's positive reading experiences. For example, if your youngster enjoyed a book about dinosaurs, follow up with a visit to a natural history museum. 

18. Offer other special incentives to encourage your child's reading. Allow your youngster to stay up an extra 15 minutes to finish a chapter; promise to take your child to see a movie after he or she has finished the book on which it was based; relieve your child of a regular chore to free up time for reading. 

19. Limit your children's television viewing in an effort to make time for other activities, such as reading. But never use TV as a reward for reading, or a punishment for not reading. 

20. Not all reading takes place between the covers of a book. What about menus, road signs, food labels, and sheet music? Take advantage of countless spur-of-the-moment opportunities for reading during the course of your family's busy day.

An except from the article Children Who Can Read, But Don't… please click here for more information and to see the original article: http://www.rif.org/us/literacy-resources/articles/children-who-can-read-but-dont.htm

Book that feature in the suggested reading list for the Governor's Reading Challenge are currently on display at the Derby Public Library.  But remember - you can choose any book you want to read! Just don't forget to record the book titles you read in your journal here and hand them into school when you go back to school. 

Books suggestions: Grade K-2  and Grade 3-4

To see more of this flyer please click here: http://www.sde.ct.gov/sde/lib/sde/pdf/ctread/SR2014_parentinfo_english.pdf

Research shows:

• Students who read over the summer do better in school in the fall.
  
  
• Students who do not read over the summer demonstrate academic loss in fall.
  
  
• 8 out of 10 studies indicate students who read for fun out-performed those who did not.
  
  
• Students read more when they can choose their own books.
  
  
• Reading 5 books over the summer can prevent academic loss.
  
  
• Summer reading loss is cumulative. By the end of 6th grade, children who do not read over the summer are two years behind other children.
  
  What Parents Can Do:
  
  

• Stress the importance of summer reading with your child.
  
  
• Make reading exciting; don’t think of it as a chore.
  
  
• Create a reading list.
  
  
• Create a no TV or electronic game time during part of each day.
  
  
• Join a summer reading program at your local library.
  
  
• Let your child choose his/her own books.
  
  
• Keep a supply of reading materials around the house.
  
  
• Go to the library regularly.
  
  
• Ask your child questions about the books s/he is reading.

http://www.syracusecityschools.com/tfiles/folder661/The%20Importance%20of%20Summer%20Reading.pdf