Coach Your Kid To Greatness

Fannin1

by Jim Fannin

In my 49 years in personal coaching, the business has grown from a “what’s wrong” mentality to a “what’s right” mentality. The entire industry has grown this way starting with professional athletes no longer being ashamed of having a “head” coach to wanting and seeking a mental edge over the competition. This is now common with the elite. Then the top corporate executives (who wish they were professional athletes) procured “life coaches” to keep their life simple
and balanced. Now families are using these services. Why and how has this happened?

After conducting over 500 parent seminars with a positive influence over 250,000 children, I see parents desperately seeking assistance in understanding and guiding their children from birth to 18. Parents who have utilized “coaching” in the corporate world are extremely interested in having the same advantage for their children. They are now seeking answers to the ever-controlling teen peer group that wrenches control from them on a daily basis. This phenomenon is
further fueled by the lack of time both parents face due to work constraints. The need for parent coaching is even more needed and prevalent because the information age has helped reduce the
attention span of adults and children alike, thus expanding the gap in their communication. Even when “Dad” is home, he’s not mentally home as he plows away on his mobile device at the dinner table not to be noticed because everyone else is doing the same. Isn’t it ironic that this technology was designed to increase communication, but it has only decreased personal human interaction?

It takes less than five minutes a day to repair this situation. Yes…in just 90-seconds at key intervals, relationships can be repaired and forged. With consistency the need for coaching will decline. Most parents, however, do not have the skill set and they don’t believe
they have the time to invest in this most important challenge.
Raising a positive, healthy and self disciplined child in our current negative and sometimes toxic environment is one of the most difficult tasks in the world. You are not alone! Of course, love conquers all! Please send any parenting questions to
[email protected].

“The NEED FOR PARENT COACHING IS EVEN MORE NEEDED AND PREVALENT BECAUSE THE INFORMATION AGE HAS HELPED…”

Author

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Kristina and Matthew Bailey began reading books to their son, Owen when he was six months old— they haven’t stopped.
Owen turned 4 in June and recently received an award from the Clarendon Hills Public Library for having had 1,000 books read to him before starting kindergarten.

The library’s 1,000 Books Before Kindergarten Challenge is one of a few reading challenge programs offered in Clarendon Hills, where the Bailey family has lived for the past 2 1/2 years.
Kristin Bailey said she saw an ad about the 1,000 Books Before Kindergarten Challenge and decided it was a good fit for Owen.

“He’s always been really into books,” Bailey said. “He had a natural interest in books at nine months old. That’s when COVID started, and he didn’t get out much, so reading books to him worked out very well. He’s a naturally curious kid, and imagination-building is important. The reading allows him to learn and explore new things, and he really wants to learn to read now.”

Krista Devlin, the Clarendon Hills library’s youth services librarian, said there’s a specific reason The Friends of the Library-sponsored 1,000 Books Before Kindergarten Challenge was started in 2022.

“Reading aloud to a child is one of the best ways to help develop important early literacy skills, which will prepare them for kindergarten,” Devlin said. “It is also a great way to bond with your child and to encourage a love of reading.”

Devlin said Owen was the second child to reach the challenge of having 1,000 books read to him before starting kindergarten. He was awarded a certificate, a crown, and his picture was taken to recognize his accomplishment.

Bailey, who said she is “a big reader,” said her family usually goes to the library once a week. Reading three books each night to Owen, along with a book before nap time, is the household normal.

“Consistency in our routine has been good and is important,” she said, adding that Owen’s two sisters, ages 2 1/2 and 1

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