Racquet Mom

Our four year old recently received a bucket truck piggy bank from his grandparents. This new toy prompted him to ask us for coins to add to the bank. My husband and I quickly found ourselves explaining the concept of money to his ever developing young brain. Instantly, our son wished to earn money by doing chores around the house. The kid who can rarely be bribed to do anything suddenly was interested in cleaning his room, wiping down the toothpaste stains out of his bathroom sink and polishing the furniture. It got me thinking---how do you motivate a child? Are some kids intrinsically motivated? To our son, the idea of earning money to add to his piggy bank in order to buy a new sword is motivation enough. So far, it has been working. I haven't had to really motivate him to do much, and it has cost me very little to reward him at this age. I like the idea of instilling some responsibility and giving him a list of chores that are easy for him to accomplish. I don't expect our...

When I was younger, it was inconceivable that Spring would go by without baseball. I played Little League and/or school softball from age four through sixteen. Even when I wasn't on the diamond myself, I was tuning in to games either on my AM radio or television screen. Baseball was everything to me, especially during the Spring and Summer months growing up. I still equate hot summer days in New York with listening to Yankees or Mets games on the radio by the pool, backyard or balcony. The Spring/Summer of 2020 has shaken up much of our world, including professional sports. There aren't any baseball games to watch on television, except for the re-airing of ESPN classics. I admit to feeling a little more than sad about the fact that baseball is missing, but there are more important things we need to worry about right now during this global pandemic. I mostly am just disappointed that my four year old won't be able to finish his first year of tee ball. I'm upset that ...