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[quote=Anonymous]One of mine was an elite athlete before a career ending injury.  She traveled around the world for her sport and it was a year round sport so there were no breaks.  Practice was six days a week for hours.

We did not have the sibling rivalry issue.  We didn't make our other kids attend all of the competitions.  If there was something local that didn't interfere with their interests, we'd take them for a little while.  Both parents didn't go to all competitions so that one of us could make sure the others got to do what they wanted.  When competitions were in areas that the other kids might like, one parent took the kids to the competition and the other took the other kids out sightseeing.  We encouraged the others to join whatever they wanted and always made it happen so they weren't left behind due to the craziness of their sister's schedule.  She still had chores and had to contribute to the household even though she was always practicing and also had school, so the family didn't hold her up on a pedestal.  I guess what I'm saying is that we didn't let our lives revolve around our athlete.

One of the things that was tough though was the money issue.  It is unbelievably expensive to have an elite athlete.  We were always cognizant of trying to be sure we took vacations and did things the other kids would enjoy even when money was tight because it really wasn't fair if one kid eats up all the time and money in the family.

I think the closest to jealousy we had was that she got to miss a bunch of school each year and my other kids don't love school.  [/quote]

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