Parents Guide of Las Vegas

By Cassie Rice

We all want our children to succeed and strive to be their best, but we also must step back and look at the bigger picture of enjoying the journey along the way. Help your kids enjoy daily living and daily tasks. As a parent don’t focus solely on grades, scoring or other typical measurements of your child’s success. Look for opportunities to praise your child for sportsmanship, civic duties, community involvement and family support. These are life skills that will really pay off in their future.

It is easy for a parent to get hung up on hard results, as they are indicators of how their child is doing, but what is more important is what type of child are they becoming? A thoughtful child who cares about other people, about their community about others less fortunate than themselves and may not excel to the top of their class or sport or a child who does excel but is self-centered, manipulative or uncaring for those less fortunate. My pick would be the former.

So often in school or sports, parents are focused on individual one time results, instead of the bigger picture of their child’s overall development. For example, one parent at a recent competition focused entirely on how their child placed. She performed very well and got 9th overall and this parent was extremely negative saying, “9th place sucks”. Well this child should be taught by the parent and coach that placing is not in your control, scoring is not always in your control and who your competition is and what they do is not in your control. So focusing on placing is the wrong approach. Instead the focus should be on attitude, effort, the improvements they’ve made, what they can improve upon etc.

When you’re getting stressed remember to enjoy your journey and be proud of the example you are setting for your kids to follow.

Cassie Rice is the owner of Gymcats in Henderson and a regular contributor to ParentsGuide of Las Vegas. She was an All-American gymnast at the University of Oklahoma and has been to the Summer Olympics twice as a coach.

Before the boys and girls of summer play baseball and softball they might take batting practice at one of the following batting cages.

Bat R Up
13 indoor cages for baseball, softball and slow pitch softball.
Where: 3040 Simmons St. Ste. 101 North Las Vegas 89032
Cost: $12 for 15 minutes, $20 for 30 minutes, $27 for 45 minutes, $33 for 60 minutes. Discount for Teams.
Summer Hours: Monday-Thursday 10am-9pm, Friday 10am-10pm, Saturday 10am-7pm Sunday Noon-5pm.
batruplasvegas.com
702-647-3844

Big League Dreams
Big League Dreams has four outdoor slow pitch and four outdoor baseball batting cages in a baseball park setting.
Where: 3151 E. Washington Ave. Las Vegas 89101
Cost: $3 gate charge. $1 for 20 pitches. Bats and helmets free of charge.
Hours: Typically 10AM-10PM
bigleaguedreams.com
702-642-4448

On Deck Baseball Academy
8 indoor batting cages. One available cage for softball. Plus two pitching simulators.
Where: 4145 North Rancho Drive, Las Vegas, 89130
Cost: $15 for 30 Minutes, $30 for 60 minutes.
ondeckba.com
702-629-3325

Power Alley
10 indoor batting cages for baseball, softball is off tee only.
Where: 4035 N Rancho Dr
Las Vegas, NV 89130
Cost: $15 for 30 minutes, $25 for 60 minutes. Discount for Teams.
Hours: Monday-Friday 4-9pm, Saturday/Sunday 9am-4pm
702-629-4489

The Dugout
10 indoor batting cages for baseball or softball.
Where: 6231 S. McLeod Drive, Suite L, Las Vegas 89120
Cost: $15 for 15 minutes, $20 for 30 minutes, $35 for 60 minutes. Discount for teams. Individual instruction also available.
702-478-5125

Source: PlaySportsLasVegas.com

Events Calendar
The Carousel at The District
Preventing Sports Injuries in Young Athletes
Family Friendly Dining
Youth Sports AtoZ
Henderson Libraries presents City’s Past
Mocha Moms Coming to Las Vegas
Smash & Splash Tennis Swim Camp
The Disneyland® Principle
Summer Camp Directory
The Joy of Hospitality
Nevada PEP
Daycare Directory

The District at Green Valley Ranch has announced their popular attraction, The Carousel at The District, will provide FREE RIDES to guests all summer. Normally priced at $2 per ride, guests can now enjoy riding The Carousel as often as they like, at no cost, until Labor Day.

The first and only outdoor carousel in Southern Nevada, the vintage-style attraction opened in May 2008 and features 32 animals and two chariots for guests to ride, including a variety of traditional renaissance-style horses, and wild animals. The décor features three-dimensional faces of menagerie animals, interior scene panels, beveled mirrors, and 1300 white lights for nighttime illumination. The attraction is topped with a canopy of multi-colored lights and decorative finial, and spins to approximately 80 melodies recorded from an original band organ.

During the summer, The Carousel will operate Monday through Thursday 3-8pm, Friday 3-10pm, Saturday 10am-10pm and Sunday 11am-7pm.

School will soon be back in session and our children, boys and girls, will be involved in sports activities. Some are playing competitively with school or league teams and some are just having fun. All of us should be concerned with preventing injuries to our children while they are playing.

Prevention of injuries should start before actual play. The first step is to hydrate, hydrate, and hydrate. We know that we all are losing water all the time without being aware of it and this loss is increased by physical activity. Adequate fluid should be provided before and during activity. Supplements such as creatine should be avoided because they can increase dehydration.

No child should play or compete without the proper protective equipment. This may be as simple as shin guards for soccer or a bicycle helmet. In football, protective equipment must be properly fitted, especially the helmet. An improperly fitting helmet makes head injury more likely. There should always be proper matting for activities like cheerleader practice or gymnastics.

No child should compete without the appropriate training and conditioning exercises. No child should compete against children who are so much stronger that they may seriously injure your child.

No child should compete when injured, despite their desire to not let down the coach or team. An injury which has not healed predisposes to a more serious injury. No child should be pressured into feeling winning is the only acceptable result. These are our children at play and it should be enjoyable for the child.

If your child is injured he should be evaluated by an experience person, be it a physician, a trainer or others knowledgeable about sports injuries. No injured child should return to the game until they have been evaluated. In the case of a head injury, any child who was knocked out or shows signs of a concussion, should not be returned to the game or compete again until a proper medical evaluation has been done. A child who sustains a new head injury before the prior injury is resolved is more likely to have serious consequences.

In the case of any injury, your child should not compete again until the injury is fully healed. When an injured area is re-injured before healing completely, it can result in a serious injury. A joint sprain can become torn ligaments or tendons if re-injured. Our girls are particularly susceptible to a tear of the anterior cruciate ligament of the knee when playing soccer and should play with healthy knees. Additionally, if the injury results from overuse of a particular joint or muscle (like pitcher’s elbow), the overuse injury should be fully healed before further competition. Our children have an entire life of sports ahead of them and we do not want that spoiled by failing to regard injuries properly.

Finally, you have probably heard of children who have a sudden blow to the chest while competing and die in cardiac arrest. This is a very rare but tragic occurrence. The one treatment which may help in this situation is to defibrillate the heart which can be done with an Automatic External Defibrillator (AED). You should be sure your school or sports organization has one available along with personnel trained in its use.

Injury prevention is a joint undertaking between you, your child, the coach, and the trainer. You should discuss safety issues with your child and know that the coach and trainer also discuss this. The highest priority of the coach and trainer should be the health of your child.

Reviewed by Dr. Claudine Mendoza, a pediatrician at Good Night Pediatrics which provides all-night urgent care for children and teenagers every night of the year from 5 P.M. to 5 A.M.