Appropriate Parenting & Youth Sports
Youth sports are beneficial and the children who participate have a tremendous opportunity to learn life skills that may benefit them long after their participation is over.
Positive sport parenting is essential for a young athlete to experience success. It’s equally important for parents to realize that negative parent involvement in youth sports can be detrimental and leave a young athlete with an undesirable experience.
Examples of Positive Parenting in Youth Sports
- Attend and enjoy youth athletics for what they are; fun activities for physical recreation.
- Applaud and encourage all the young athletes at the event.
- Assist the young athletes to learn the basic fundamentals of the sport.
- Encourage social interactions and assist the young athletes in making new friends.
- Teach and guide the participant in learning the rules and importance of fair play.
- Set an example and modeling appropriate fan behavior and sportsmanship.
- Emphasizing and encourage the importance of the young athlete striving to do his or her best.
- Review, ask and allow the young athlete to express his or her feelings about participating in youth sports; this includes how the athlete feels about your support as a parent.
A Specific Example of Positive Parenting in Youth Sports
A parent who has a daughter participate on a high school hockey team shared with me that she wrote a positive note to her daughter encouraging her to “believe in herself and your team.” The simple words of encouragement were so inspiring to her daughter that she shared the positive words with the team before the game began. The young athletes performed so well that they approached this parent together requesting her “to write another inspirational saying” to be shared before the next game. Now, this is an example of positive parent involvement in youth sports!
