All Articles by Brooke de Lench

My first-born son, Taylor (granted, he is only older than his two triplet brothers by a minute!), has taken up a new sport: Ice climbing. He loves it, but I have to say I am less than thrilled. Should I worry?

I am often asked by safety-conscious parents for advice on how to be less nervous watching their children play sports. The questions come from first-time sports dads watching their children play sports against bigger kids to moms who admit to biting their nails during their sons' wrestling matches and football games.

If you saw the recent stories  about the preliminary results of the two-year, $6 million dollar high school steroid testing program in Texas, you might be confused.

The admission by New York Yankee superstar Alex Rodriguez that he used performance enhancing drugs from 2001 to 2003 while playing for the Texas Rangers is just the latest in a sorry stream of admissions about the use of steroids by current and former Major League Baseball players.  President Obama said Rodriquez's confession to ESPN's Peter Gammons "tarnishes an entire era to some degree."  He re-stated the obvious when he said  that drugs use by sports stars "sent the wrong message to the nation's youth."