The Worst Sports Parents

We’ve all been there. If your kids have played sports, you know exactly what I mean. After watching three different football games this weekend and three different losses, it was easy to see how bad some sports parents behave. It’s not enough that the kids were down and the coaches were down, but the parents… well that was a whole different beast.

Over the years, from what I’ve seen, parents often fall into two different categories: The first being the ones who hash out the whole game on their kids, attacking them from the minute the final whistle is blown. Then, there are the parents who support their kids, win or lose.

I read an article once where college and professional athletes were asked what their worst memories were from childhood and high school sports. Number one answer? The car rides home.

It’s hard to know the root of why parents feel the need to yell at their kids in sports. Sometimes they’re trying to live through their children. Sometimes they think their kids should simply do better, try harder. There’s a time and place to go over their performance, and that’s not right after a game when emotions are high.

Athletes get yelled at by their coaches. That’s what coaches are for. Not to say that parents don’t have the right to guide and direct their children in what they think is right, but there’s definitely a wrong way to do it.

I remember a friend who had a dad who was a perfectionist. No matter what she did, win or lose, he was there at the end of every sporting event to yell at her… and I mean, yell. She didn’t run fast enough, play hard enough, do well enough at anything. No matter what she did, it wasn’t her best according to him.

She was a star athlete to everyone else but all she wanted from him – her own father – was to hear just once, “I’m proud of you. You are wonderful”. But it never happened and I know it’s effected her life.

Parents have to know the effect this kind of behavior has on kids. Parents should be the safest place for their child to land, following the greatest win or the toughest loss. That’s hard to do sometimes, but it’s still important to try.

There’s something more meaningful than the game and that’s the integrity of the team and the heart of each player. Their character will be largely guided by you, their parent. So take a deep breath and try to remember the next time your keys tighten in your hand as you walk away from the game. There are only so many car rides home for your child to look back upon. How do you want yours to feel when they remember the ones they had with you?

Beatty is a speech therapist in North Carolina by day and chases after three boys and little girl with her husband, Adam and bowls of ice cream by night. You can join their adventures at Peanut Butter Hair.