- Be positive
- It rubs off. If you complain about them not being in the starting lineup, they will do the same. Be an attentive listener.
- Be realistic
- Someone may be bigger, faster, stronger, tougher, or smarter. Know their limitations and encourage them to make the best contribution that they can. Everyone on the team will have a role and encourage them to be the best they can be in that role. Star in your current role while finding ways to improve your weaknesses outside of required activities.
- Don’t knock the coaching staff
- How can you expect your child to play to their fullest if all they hear from you about the coach is negative? The coach represents authority so you will give them the wrong message if you ridicule the coach and his/her teachings. Support the coach’s rules, philosophies, and playbook. Encourage building high quality connections with strong communication channels.
- Support the other players
- Treat each player as if they were your own. Don’t dislike a player because you don’t like their parents or their role on the team.
- Don’t be a know-it-all
- Coaches spend many hours with these young people that the parents may never see. Be a good role model and let the coaches’ coach.
- Be an active parent
- Monitor their academics and insist that they earn good grades. If you put academics first, your child will be more successful.
- Have an awareness of your child’s social activities
- Monitor their friends, hangouts, relationships, curfew, language, and rules. Talk to them about drugs, alcohol, cyber-bullying, and mental health. If you don’t communicate well in these areas, the wrong people will influence them.
- Be unselfish
- Don’t use the sport for the wrong reasons. Let them play because they love the game.
- Don’t baby your child
- Sever the umbilical cord. It’s a tough world out there so let them begin to prepare for it. Let the coaches push your child. Let the coaches make them tougher mentally by challenging and holding them accountable.
- Don’t live your life through your child
- You had a chance to be young. Let them create their own story. Don’t force any sport down their throat.
Close
