Carmello Anthony a true Family Man

Carmelo Anthony former player for the New York Knicks has become a free agent, he recently did a interview where he stated that when making his decision his family is the biggest factor. "The average person just sees an opportunity to say, 'Melo should go here, Melo should go here, I think he should do this, I think he should do that,' " Anthony said. "But they don't take into consideration the family aspect of it, your livelihood, where you're going to be living, do you want your kids to grow up in that place, in that city, do I want to spend the rest of my career in that situation, in that city. All of that stuff comes into play. "My son goes to school; he loves it here. To take him out and take him somewhere else, he'd have to learn that system all over again, he'd have to get all new friends. And I know how hard it was for me when I moved from New York to Baltimore at a young age, having to work to try and make friends, and try to fit in."

I found this to be so down to earth to have a professional athlete speak so openly about this, it's not about the money, but how his child will do in a new environment. I personally can speak to this issue, my son has some sensory issues and delays. He needs to be eased into new environments, I think even if a child doesn't have special needs that it's imperative as a parent to prepare a child for a new experience. A great example is my children and I are moving into a apartment. My son and daughter have grown accustom to living in a house with their grandparents , thankfully my family owns the building I am moving into so I have been taking my children over to our new place and letting them take a few things over little by little, and we hang out over there for a few hours as the place gets prepped for our big move day. Now I know not everyone is blessed with being able to do this so here are a few helpful tips I found and a couple of my own on preparing a child for a new setting or routine. Give Fair Warning: Communicate with your child/ children well in advance that there are changes coming and continue to talk about it as time goes by Give Details: It's important to give as many details as possible so they can fully understand , WHY, WHERE, WHEN Have Empathy: LISTEN to your kids concerns and make sure they know their feelings are valid. Read about it: There are so many books on every situation possible- Divorce, moving, death, new baby, new school, taking a bus, making friends, using the bathroom, etc. Open Communications/Find the silver lining with preteens/ teenagers: This group can be tough, I believe it's important to keep the communication open about what changes are about to occur,again making sure that it's clear that their feelings are valid. For example:(Moving) Do some research on teen hangouts or after school/ weekend events for that age group, or making it a priority to let them visit or have friends from back home visit (can't afford to travel try Skype, it's free and being able to see the person you are talking to really makes you feel like you are there).