Have any of you watched the new reality show on BRAVO over parents pushing their kids into sports. It is like their old show titled "Show Mom's and Dad's" except in this, they focus on the parents who push and push their kids in sports to be the best. The one that scared me the most was the football "dad" that had his young boy, age 7, practice every day for at least an hour by running laps, doing drills and taking big hits. They then followed it up with the football games, ect. He even hired a private coach-all of this just because he wants his son to play in the NFL. My question was: what happens to the child if he blows out his knees and can no longer play. Does this mean he doesn't matter anymore to his father? Would his life be over? Scary, scary, scary people.

All four of my kids do sports year around. I do not want my kids to specialize on a sport until they are in high school. They will never wrestle year round just like they would never play baseball year round ect. Does this hurt them? I personally feel that they are all doing okay for themselves as it is. My oldest son competes very well at his age in ALL sports. But even with him, I am not counting on him getting a sports scholarship to go to college. There is just too many talented kids and not enough scholarships to go around. I have no sports ability but still made it through college without any financial needs because of grades/scholarships. I push my kids hard-in academics. I remind them that to go to college, you need scholarships and you get that with grades. My kids can not play sports unless they also maintain an A average on their report card (something that I know they can do). It is a lot of pressure but if they want it that bad, they will do it. Academics pays your way in college and in life. The only way sports will is if you are lucky enough to be in the very rare minority group. It's like betting on the powerball ticket. You know someone will probably win it but what are your chances?