The "life lessons" portion of Responsible Sport Parenting starts with getting on the same page with our kids.
Responsible Sports Parent Tip of the Week:
“Encourage your child to compare her performance to her own past performance. What can she do now that she could not do two weeks ago?”
Why do your children want to play youth sports? Why do they want to participate?
Once you consider those answers and recognize where you and your child agree and differ, you can establish common ground for conversations that will help you and your child get what you want from youth sports.
To start, think about possible goals that you might have for your child. Consider ranking them from 1-10 – what would be your top 3?
Maybe:
- Become a good athlete
- Learn to play the sport
- Gain self-confidence
Visit the Determining Goals for Our Kids in Sports page for a list of potential outcomes you may have for your child and pointers for having this discussion with your child.
Then, consider asking the same question of your kids. What are their top three? Want to get more tips and advice on what to ask your child? You might be surprised to see what they are thinking. Getting "level set" through this conversation helps both of you get on the same page. And in the end, that helps both of you get the most out of the youth sports experience.
The ranking exercise serves several purposes:
- Helps us as parents articulate and prioritize our goals
- Reminds us of the educational and character-development opportunities in youth sports
- Helps us talk with our kids, as equals and in a spirit of partnership, about their goals.
What also is interesting about this exercise is the diversity of responses from fellow parents. See what other fellow parents said when asked about their ranking and their child's ranking of goals for their sports.
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