I am not a doctor, nor do I play one on TV. Like most of you, I am just a person who has no idea if the coronavirus is a pandemic of biblical proportions, or if this is just a seasonal virus which will pass much like the avian and swine flu once did.

No, I am just a father concerned about my children and parents getting it. Like with the flu, the risk is greater for them. This means while I will presumably be alright, if I contract it, I can spread it to others. For me, that’s the real risk.

Now, there is no way to cut ourselves off from society. I need to go to work, and my children need to go to school. Honestly, even with the risk of disease, there are things we just have to do as a family. However, that doesn’t mean you can’t take preventative measures. The CDC has already outlined them:

• Advoid close contact with people who are sick.
• Avoid touching your eyes, nose, and mouth.
• Stay home when you are sick.
• Cover your cough or sneeze with a tissue, then throw the tissue in the trash.
• Clean and disinfect frequently touched objects and surfaces using a regular household cleaning spray or wipe.
• Follow CDC’s recommendations for using a facemask.
  • CDC does not recommend that people who are well wear a facemask to protect themselves from respiratory diseases, including COVID-19.
  • Facemasks should be used by people who show symptoms of COVID-19 to help prevent the spread of the disease to  others. The use of facemasks is also crucial for health workers and people who are taking care of someone in close settings (at home or in a health care facility).
• Wash your hands often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds, especially after going to the bathroom; before eating; and after blowing your nose, coughing, or sneezing.
  • If soap and water are not readily available, use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer with at least 60% alcohol. Always wash hands with soap and water if hands are visibly dirty.

The general rule I’m using for my family is everywhere you go the first thing you do is wash your hands. I also keep baby wipes on hand to wipe down hands and faces. That is necessary when you are opening doors and touching things others who might be infected could’ve touched.

Keep in mind while you may need to live your life, you can make smarter choices. For example, you can go to the grocery store either early in the morning or very late in the day, i.e. at times when there aren’t many people. Also, you can order things on Amazon and have them delivered. On that note, Amazon does have many things cheaper than you can get them in stores.

The other thing we’ve done is stop eating out. You don’t and can’t know if the people handling your food have been infected. While that is a general rule of thumb, there is no vaccine for the coronavirus like there is for the flu.

Beyond that, we haven’t found much more we can do. Our children are already taking their vitamins, drinking their milk, and they had already been taking elderberry. Basically, they are doing all the things we can do to keep them happy and healthy.

At the moment, we are doing our normal activities with the children albeit on a more limited basis. For example, we are not doing story times at the library or Barnes & Noble. Instead, we read at home. We also aren’t going to the movies, nor are we going to attend any sporting events. Sadly, right now, that means no Opening Day or NCAA Tournament.

Mostly, we pray. We pray for health and guidance. Of course, right now, we pray while avoiding Church, which I hope is understandable even in this Lenten season.

When and if there are cases near us, we will reassess what we do. For right now, we are living our lives, but we are being smart about it. From our perspective, that seems to be what makes the most sense. If we had an infant, it’s very likely we would be even more restrictive in what we do. The same if our parents lived with us.

Overall, the best piece of advice to give anyone is to listen to the CDC, your doctors, and other medical professionals. Seriously, while I hope this was all helpful, you should disregard much of this advice because ultimately it’s uneducated advice.

In the end, the biggest takeaway is follow what the CDC and other medical professionals tell you and to stop seeking advice from people like me. In the end, all I can do is tell you what I am or am not doing. Like others, I cannot guarantee my advice is effective. Rather, it is just what we are doing. Hopefully, you find something which helps you and your family stay safe and healthy.

When Derek Jeter was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame, he went to the set of MLB Network to talk about his career. During that time, he advocated for playing multiple sports as a kid. Sadly, the world is seemingly moving away from that.

Increasingly, parents are seeking to have their children specialize in just one sport. Worse yet, parents are doing it with children at younger and younger ages.

While this seems unhealthy (it is), it’s actually worse than imagined. On a recent episode of Real Sports, they highlighted how this has led to what doctors are referring to an epidemic of sports injuries among children.

Seeing young prepubescent children undergo the knife is shocking. What’s all the more troubling is hearing different statements from the children and their parents.

You heard the soccer players talk about how if they took some time off, time their bodies needed to recover, they fell behind. This meant the loss of an opportunity to fulfill dreams of playing collegiate soccer. For some, that could mean the loss of a much needed athletic scholarship.

Others spoke about how even though they’ll need knee surgeries and have early onset arthritis, they still love the sport and want to keep pushing themselves past their braking point.

It’s very easy to say these parents have lost all perspective and criticize them. Obviously, what they’re doing is crazy, and in the Real Sports segment, they actually admit it. Chances are, they got to this point very innocently.

Parents talk about the joy their children feel playing the sports while also clearly pained by what’s happening. In their faces, you see an inner dilemma and turmoil, and to date, they don’t have a solution.

Seeing what I see now from an athletic six year old, I’m surmising this is something which innocently happens at the outset.

At a young age, my son has been recruited to play for travel hockey and soccer teams. Yes, you read that correctly. A six year old is being recruited.

With those recruitments, we’ve heard pitches of an inside track to this high school or being able to work with that coach. As noted in the Real Sports article, youth sports is a big business now, and coaches want the best players to rack up wins and notoriety.

Going back to the kids for a moment, you see a difference between a child liking a sport and a child LOVING a sport.

What do you do when your child actually wants to play the same sport constantly? What do you do when your child strives to improve? What do you do when your child’s best friends are on those teams?

When viewed through that prism you begin to see this less as parents being monsters who abdicate their perspective, and you begin to see parents as people who were just trying to do their best and lost their perspective.

These youth leagues shoulder much of the blame. They’re the supposed experts who are supposed to direct you onto the right path. Lost in that is their existence is fueled by you doing more and more and not necessarily by doing what’s right by the children.

So what do you, as parents do?

First and foremost, don’t sign up your child for a team unless you trust the coaches. If those teams are worth their salt, they’ll speak with you beforehand. Personally, I knew we found the right team when the coach preached playing multiple sports and taking a break.

You see parents are not immediately aware of burnout and fatigue. Aside from the risks shown by Real Sports, at some point, a child will get sick of playing the same thing all the time.

Another factor with playing other sports is they’re fun. It may not be as fun as the main sport, but it’s still fun. In those sports, your child not only works on other skills which will help them in other sports (for example, baseball is great for hand/eye coordination), but for parents, you get perspective.

You’ll see what other parents say about those sports. You also get out of the bubble. Your child gets to branch out, discover something new, and have fun.

It also doesn’t have to be a sport. It can be music lessons, or just sitting home and playing with Legos. Really, just something different. It’s helps your child, and it helps you better parent your child.

In the end, this is about your child’s health and enjoyment of life. When these sports start becoming professionalized at a young age, the fun is being drained from them, and with it comes increased injury. The sports won’t change, but the parenting can.

Overall, as parents, just remember you want happy and healthy children, and in the end, you’re really the only one with your child’s best interests in mind. Seek out advice from an array of sources, do your research, and in the end, trust your instincts.