How To Be A Responsible Sports Parent

What comes to mind when you think of being a sports parent? While many different stereotypes come to mind, being a sports parent is about more than just shouting from the sidelines. As a parent, you want what’s best for your child regardless of the type of activity they partake in, and being able to offer them all-round support during their training and matches can ensure they remain fit and healthy to allow them to pursue their chosen sport to the best of their abilities.

Why Should Children Play Sports?

Getting children off the couch and onto the sports field helps them develop a wide range of physical, mental, and social skills that will serve them well as they progress through childhood and into adulthood.

Sports can be more than just about keeping your child healthy, from helping children build good nutritional habits to improving their time management skills and improving confidence. They can learn to work with others as a team in team sports, learn more about themselves and what they are capable of, build communication skills and develop a strong sense of responsibility for their own bodies and behaviors.

Children pick up different skills in different ways, and helping them foster a love for sports can give them a great start in life and help them gain some valuable skills that can be transferred to other areas of their lives as they grow into adulthood.

As a parent, how can you best support your child in developing their skills and participating in sports?

Be Supportive

Your child will likely not participate in sports without your active support, including financial, logistical, and emotional support. Having children involved in youth sports can significantly strain your family’s schedule and your finances, making this a difficult situation. But it’s also essential to reassure your child that you are proud of them and that you support their efforts, even if it means getting up at 5 a.m. to drive them to practice.

Being supportive does not necessarily imply that you must attend every practice, especially those early morning ones, but it certainly helps! It also does not mean that you have to participate in every game or meet.

The ability to be present for everything is often impossible, especially if you have multiple children. What truly matters to your child is that you are concerned about and supportive of them.

Providing strong emotional support can even help to prevent your child from experiencing burnout. Research has found that when parents participate in their children’s sports activities, they are more likely to share their sport positively.

The goal is to ensure that your child understands that you love them no matter what, rather than to put pressure on them to perform to please you. Although this concept appears to be self-explanatory, it is not always straightforward to implement.

Provide The Correct Equipment

It goes without saying that the financial implication of your child undertaking a sport seriously can be immense. However, you should be fully prepared for the costs associated with purchasing the correct equipment as they need it, especially clothing and footwear. Not being able to provide the proper footwear, such as specific pickleball shoes or running shoes to enhance performance, can lead to accidents and injury as they won’t be able to optimize their performance. Plus, in their initial stages or while your child is still growing could mean you need to replace items they wear out or grow out of on a more frequent basis.

Emphasize Participation

Your child can experience anxiety and even reduced motivation to participate in sports if you place too much emphasis on winning and losing. It is preferable to concentrate on one’s own efforts and personal development.

It is essential to help your children understand that you value their efforts above all else and reinforce their actions when they improve, especially when they are young and still learning how to compete.

Be A Role Model

Young athletes need to maintain a healthy body to perform well and reduce the risk of injury. You can assist them in achieving these objectives through your words and actions. Serve nutritious foods to your family and remind your children of the importance of proper nutrition in their lives. You can even provide healthy snacks for the team if you so choose.

Regular exercise and discussion of how it makes you feel stronger and more energetic are recommended. Work out with them, assist them with drills, or have them teach you some of what they have learned about their chosen sports if you have the opportunity.

According to research, the exercise habits of parents have a significant impact on the exercise habits of their children. Parents who engage in physical activity are more likely to have physically active children.

Make sure you are respectful of teammates, other parents, and coaches to instill the correct behavior in your child and avoid copying your behavior.

Foster Independence

It’s fine to be heavily involved in your children’s sports, but the evidence suggests that heavy involvement should be balanced with autonomy and independence. You can establish boundaries, but you should also allow your children some degree of freedom and autonomy within those confines.

Instead of telling your child, “You must always be prepared for practices,” try saying, “You are responsible for making sure you have your equipment and water.” This will give your child more independence and responsibility for their actions and behavior. If they think you are going to do everything for them, then they might not be as responsible both in training and out of it as they should be.

As your children demonstrate that they can take personal responsibility, you can experiment with granting them greater autonomy.

Helping your child follow their dreams of being an athlete and potentially following it through to a career can be the culmination of many small behaviors from both you as a parent and themselves as they pursue their goals and train as hard as possible in their chosen sport.