Here is a list of considerations you should consider when your child begins playing in Los Alamos County Little League. Read and Think about them as they are easier said than done. If you can honestly answer yes to each one, you will have very few challenges ahead.
Can you share your son or daughter = This means trusting the coach to guide your child's Little League experiences. It means accepting the coach's authority and the fact that he or she may gain some of your child's admiration that once was directed toward you.
Can you admit your shortcomings = Sometimes we slip up as parents, our emotions causing us to speak before we think. We judge our child too hastily, perhaps only to learn later the child's actions were justified. It takes character for parents to admit they made a mistake and to discuss it with their child.
Can you accept your child's disappointments = Sometimes being a parent means being a target for a child's anger and frustration. Accepting your child's disappointment also means watching your child play poorly during a game when all of his or her friends succeed, or not being embarrassed into anger when your 10-year-old breaks into tears after a failure. Keeping your frustration in check will help you guide your son or daughter through disappointments.
Can you accept your child's triumphs = This sound much easier than it often is. Some parents, not realizing it, may become competitive with their daughter or son, especially if the youngster receives considerable recognition. When a child plays well in a game, parents may dwell on minor mistakes, describe how an older brother or sister did even better, or boast about how they played better many years ago.
Can you give your child some time = Some parents are very busy, even though they are interested in their child's participation and want to encourage it. Probably, the best solution is never to promise more than you can deliver.
Can you let your child make her or his own decisions = Decisions making is an essential part of young person's development, and it is a real challenge to parents. It means offering suggestions and guidance but finally, within reasonable limits, letting the child go his or her own way. All parents have ambitions for their children, but parents must accept the fact that they cannot mold their children's lives. Little League offers parents a minor initiation into the major process of letting go.
Good Sportsmanship
It's no secret that kids imitate their parents. In addition, they absorb the attitudes they think lie behind their parents' actions. As you go through your Little League season with your child, be a positive role model. How can you expect your child to develop a healthy perspective about competing and winning if you display an unhealthy one? Remember Little League is supposed to be a fun experience for your child, and one in which he or she will learn some sport skills. Winning will take care of itself.
Some parents seem to abandon good principles of child rearing when their child is participating in sports. However, just as your child's home, school, and religious environment affect the type of person he or she will be, so does the sport environment especially when your child is young.
Keep Winning in Perspective
Are you able to keep winning in perspective? You might answer with a confident yes, but will you be able to do so when it is your child who is winning or losing, when your child is treated a bit roughly by someone on the other team, or when the umpire makes a judgment against your child? Parents are sometimes unprepared for the powerful emotions they experience when watching their sons and daughters compete.
Reacting To Their Performance
As part of your child's sports environment, you are expected to be a source of feedback about their performance. You need to be sensitive to this role.
Once your child is performing, it is important that your reactions to their performances are built around the framework of the previously discussed set of expectations. Be prepared to react to both good and poor performances. Feedback is used for three purposes: error correction, motivation, and reinforcement. You should be especially aware of opportunities to provide motivation and/or reinforcement. Team environments often tend to utilize feedback only for error identification and error correction purposes, sometimes causing an athlete to develop feelings of frustration or a feeling that they are not doing anything right.
We must convince ourselves and our children that mistakes are a natural part of sports, and most activities in life, for that matter. While it is true that athletes should strive to reduce the mistakes they make, they will never totally eliminate them. We certainly should never expect children in youth sports to play without making mistakes. It is important that they understand this and set realistic performance expectations for themselves. Accentuate the positive!!!