Friday Five Newsletter: 6/2/2023 - Reforming the Sidelines: A Guide to Positive Sports Parenting

Here are 5 steps you can take to go from toxic parent to positive influence

1. Redefining Victory: Shifting my focus from the scoreboard to nurturing my child's personal growth and love for the game. Losing isn't a disaster - it's an opportunity to learn and improve.

2. A Lesson in Respect: Recognizing the vital roles coaches and officials play in the game, and mirroring the respect they deserve. They're not adversaries; they're allies in teaching my child valuable life lessons.

3. Swapping Criticism for Encouragement: Turning from a critic to a cheerleader, focusing on uplifting my child and their teammates. Constructive advice has its place, but positive encouragement fosters a healthier, happier sports environment.

4. Keeping My Cool: Controlling my emotions, even in the heat of the game. Sideline arguments and outbursts only add tension and negatively impact my child's enjoyment and performance.

5. Putting Enjoyment First: The key change - ensuring my child's sporting journey is enjoyable, not burdensome. It's not about my ambitions, it's about their experience, passion, and growth in the sport they love.

If we way to save the landscape of youth sports it has to start with us, the adults.  If you feel like you need to change, I ask you humbly to start today.  There is nothing wrong with admitting the err of your ways and turning over a new leaf for the betterment of our young people.  Let's do this together because I know we can!