Love this! It is always so frustrating when parents try to coach from the side for horseback riding! A lot of times they give incorrect advice or psych the kid out when all they need to do is help give confidence and cheering on.
Very true and very sad. The only thing that needs to be said by the parent in the car ride home is, "What kind of ice cream do you want?" All game talk should be kid-driven!
We were at a soccer tourney this weekend and one of the moms was yelling at all the new kids, including my son. It took everything in me to keep my mouth shut. Instead, I shot a nasty look. She quieted down, but continued to huff and puff and shake her head.
The team was coming off a season of losses from the spring. After two more losses this weekend the blame shifted to the new players.
We ended up winning our final game, 2-0. And, guess who scored both goals…
Love this! It is always so frustrating when parents try to coach from the side for horseback riding! A lot of times they give incorrect advice or psych the kid out when all they need to do is help give confidence and cheering on.
Oh wow, that's unfortunate. I imagine it interferes with the rider/horse relationship too. Does it also distract the horse?
It definitely can! Which can make things dangerous, or costly mistakes can be made that may result in other safety concerns.
I’m with this 💯.
I actually wrote a piece a while back about ways people could do better at being a youth sport parent:
https://open.substack.com/pub/hennyhiemenz/p/empty-calories-and-male-curiosity-b17?r=24w1jq&utm_medium=ios
Great stuff, Henry! Particularly like your points about cheering for other kids and learning to say, I don't know.
Thanks Melissa!
Great read,a large % of kids quitting sports occurs in the car ride home
Very true and very sad. The only thing that needs to be said by the parent in the car ride home is, "What kind of ice cream do you want?" All game talk should be kid-driven!
We were at a soccer tourney this weekend and one of the moms was yelling at all the new kids, including my son. It took everything in me to keep my mouth shut. Instead, I shot a nasty look. She quieted down, but continued to huff and puff and shake her head.
The team was coming off a season of losses from the spring. After two more losses this weekend the blame shifted to the new players.
We ended up winning our final game, 2-0. And, guess who scored both goals…
Two of the new kids. Go figure.