Your child’s PLAYING TIME is NOT what’s really important.
Whether your child WINS or LOSES is NOT what’s really important.
YOUR goals for your child’s sport are NOT what’s really important!
That college scholarship, especially if YOU are driving it, is NOT what’s really important!
Insisting that your child listen to you and carefully follow your “extra” coaching instructions is DEFINITELY NOT what’s really important!
What IS really important is YOUR RELATIONSHIP with your child and that you communicate, with NO ambivalence, that YOUR LOVE for them and their value in your eyes has absolutely NOTHING to do with how well they perform in their sport.
That is, what’s really important for you as a parent is…
LOVING your child unconditionally, NO PERFORMANCE STRINGS ATTACHED,
Understanding that they don’t owe you any “return” for “all you’ve done for them,” because this is WHAT LOVING PARENTS DO for their kids, just because….
Remembering that long after they’ve “retired” from their sport and grown up, YOUR RELATIONSHIP WITH THEM will remain…and the key question for you to ALWAYS keep in the forefront of your mind is, “What kind of relationship am I creating?”
Keeping your child’s sport in the proper perspective,
Modeling appropriate behavior for your child in the stands, in the car, at home, ALWAYS,
Conducting yourself in a way that would always make your child proud of you,
Understanding that the games are simply a vehicle for kids to learn about themselves, life and the world,
Monitoring and making sure that your child stays SAFE physically and emotionally,
INTERVENING IMMEDIATELY to PROTECT your child if you suspect they are being harmed by the coach,
Making sure that the primary purpose of sports remains LEARNING and HAVING FUN, rather than winning!
This is what’s REALLY important in sports for parents
