Now before you rally the town to come hang me, listen to my reasoning! Put down the clubs and listen.
At practice the other night, I had a child (6 years old) tell me she didn't HAVE to listen to the coaches and that her momma said if she doesn't have fun at practice she doesn't have to go, and can just ONLY go to the games. WHEN DID THIS BECOME A THING?! When did we let our kids become the adults? They said they wanted to do it so we signed them up, committed them to a team, and now it's ok to let everyone else down because they don't like it for 5 minutes half way through the season?!
Why are we ok as parents on letting our kids be sissys and quitters when the going gets tough? When your coach is a little hard on your because they've seen you do that skill better and know you can do it? When the coaches make EVERYONE run because we win as a team and we get in trouble as a team?! When they don't get placed in the position they want, but get placed in a position they are FIT for? Why is this the "new way of parenting"?!
Now don't get me wrong, this is a rec league and it's just for fun, BUT why would you tell your child that it's ok to tell an adult no and that their momma said they're special and excluded from any type of consequences?! Why are we letting our kids grow up this way?
I get it, your little snowflake is one of a kind and is super special to you, and THAT IS WONDERFUL!!! But don't you want your child to grow up to be able to go to work and be able to learn from
CONSTRUCTIVE CRITICISM? Would you be ok with your child getting fired from their first job because they told their boss that "my momma said I don't have to if I don't want to!" I mean... That's fine and all of your little snowflake is going to leech off you until you die and they get their inheritance... But why do you want your kid to be uncoachable? Why do you want your kid to be rude, hateful, lazy, uncooperative, entitled? Why is this the generation of the participation trophies and the "momma saids"?
I have 2 kids of my own, one of which is on this team. And when she told her coach no at this same practice she was beyond in trouble. It was unacceptable to me. She got taken to my car, given a good speech, and then was to run before she could join her teammates at their water break. She was embarrassed in front of her friends as well. I promise you, she learned that she doesn't tell her coach that she wasn't doing something because she didn't want to and she won't EVER do that again. At least not while I'm at practice with her.
There needs to come a time where we let our kids be their own independent person, especially in a sports team situation. Let the coaches do what they are there to do! Yes some days your kid won't love it, and you know what THAT IS TOTALLY OK! Do you want to know what is NOT OK? Teaching your kids it's ok to quit on their team, half way through a season because they had to run at practice for not doing what was instructed. Teach them that coaches are supposed to be tough on them, so they can be the best athlete they could ever be! TEACH THEM RESPECT! Teach them that it's ok to be upset with someone who is giving them constructive criticism, but they have to deal with it in an appropriate way! TEACH THEM THAT QUITTING ON THEIR TEAMS IS NOT OK!
PSA:
Uncoachable children become unemployable adults.
Now, we can all agree that today's parents suck, and we should take steps to be a better parent tomorrow!
