Answering Questions

So I decided that someone needs to read my blog - since there aren't any volunteers, that someone is me. It's a good thing that I haven't been overwhelmed with readers; otherwise, I wouldn't have noticed a few questions from my earlier posts that I had promised to answer here. Of course, I'm the only one here so there must be some kind of circular logic at play.

The first question was really a clarification of my comments regarding parental involvement in youth sports. My generation is too involved in the sports "careers" of our children. Our kids know how much we care and they're way too worried about what we think and not wanting to disappoint us. Nervous kids don't perform to their potential and don't have as much fun. If you want to help your child improve in a particular sport, don't ask him if he wants to attend a sports camp or wants to practice outside with you. If you back off and let your child come to you if she wants your help, you'll have a happier, more successful child.

I think there is another question that I promised to answer but I can't remember it now.

One more thing. I just discovered that I can edit the dates of my blog. This is a cool feature because I can keep changing the dates so it doesn't look like my insights have been ignored for months at a time. I'm even thinking of post-dating some comments.

Where Have All The Flowers Gone

Who remembers this folk song? If you Google the song, you'll find that at least 7 different groups or artists sang these lyrics. And your point is ...? Hopefully, I will actually think of a point before I'm ready to keyboard another sentence. Pete Seeger wrote the lyrics to this song in the 1950's when he was under investigation by Senator Joe McCarthy and the lovable foks on the House UnAmerican Committee.

We sang this song at a camp that I attended in 8th grade usually on the last night of camp (and right before "I'm leaving on a jet plane"). I'm sure you get the picture. This is a song that has a lot of different meanings for different people. It's particularly relevant today because it peaks with some words about soldiers and graveyards.

For me, it symbolizes all the things in my life that are gone: the promise of youth, daughters who want to sit on my lap, coaching youth soccer when my kids were playing bunch ball, family dinners without cell phones and text messages, and so on and so forth. Mostly, it makes me realize how much I miss the wonderful times that I had watching my children grow up and how grateful I am that I took so many videos along the way.

I created funny compilation videos for my daughter's Bat Mitzvahs. At each event, I had lots of friends come up to me and lament the fact that they hadn't spent much time videotaping their kids. These videos have brought tremendous joy to everyone in our family, including my kids and my parents. So today's message is a pretty simple one: MAKE SURE YOU HAVE A GREAT VIDEO CAMERA THAT TAKES GOOD PICTURES IN LOW LIGHT AND ISN'T GATHERING DUST IN YOUR CLOSET. Even when all of your flowers are gone, you'll be able to enjoy them.

SAT Prep

So someone told me that my blog needs to be more direct, hard hitting and informative. He didn't use those exact words but that was the gist of his message. This was the most valuable advice that I received in my one hour of "free blogging consulting." So here's some direct, hard hitting, and informative advice about SAT Prep.

1) You should start SAT or ACT Prep in the summer between 10th and 11th grade. It's important to learn all of the pertinent strategies before you begin your junior year.

2) Prior to prepping for either test, you should take an SAT and an ACT practice test. If you score relatively higher on one of the tests, focus your test prep on that exam. If it's the ACT, you will have a distinct advantage over other students since so few students prep for the ACT.

3) Plan your SAT II: Subject Test strategy in 10th grade. What subject tests are you going to take and when? This is an easy decision for students on an AP or Honors track. This is a challenge for everyone else and you MUST have an SAT II strategy in place as a 10th grader. Click here for more information about SAT II: Subject Tests.

4) The key to test prep is practice practice practice. Allen Iverson would not have scored well on the SAT (basketball fans will know what I'm talking about).

Still confused about the SAT? Click here for more information.

I could add a few more salient facts here but I'll wait and see if anyone is actually interested in what I have to say.

You can register for any SAT exam at http://www.collegeboard.com

Mark's Musings

See if you can answer my first question. Why am I here?

a) because I'm not somewhere else
b) because I just read a blog telling me that I need a blog to blog
c) I have huge ADD issues
d) I want to help my company become more "visible"
e) all of the above

I will include the correct response in the next edition of my blog. In case you're wondering, this blog will contain a wide variety of advice for families with children at home. My simple, easy to follow insights range from academia to parenting to youth sports and to whatever else I can think of before the next edition. Here's an example:

My parents never talked to me about my athletic endeavors and I ALWAYS loved sports. It didn't matter if I was playing well or my team was winning. My generation has decided that we're going to be better parents than our parents and immerse ourselves in the lives of our children. This has really back-fired and our kids are suffering the consequences. I'll explain why in a future edition of my blog.