Pushy Parents
There is 5 min to go, and it is 3 all. The ball is out the left with Katie, and were all ready to score. But imagine this… You're in the zone about to shoot or score a try, but you miss, how do your parents react? Well… Parent 1: Nice try, you’ll get em next time, Keep it up! Or Parent 2: What were you thinking you should have passed it, I told you you needed more practice. You should be ashamed! I mean we all have parents that love to see us achieve and support us to do so, but when have they gone too far? So are our parents pushing us as children too hard in our chosen sport, and is it affecting our performance and the outcome?
There is both positive and negative affects to any situation, but how negative can they get? Well... we all like the feeling of going up on the podium to have your medal presented to you, or raising the cup for your team, and I mean we can't really do it without our parents. But there is somethings that our parents should leave to us (the experts) Having your parents there pushing you to get outside and kick the ball around helps you to achieve your goal of winning the tournament and being able to hold the glory, (Oh and of course it gives you bragging rights) but it is also very special for your parents because they feel proud. But sometimes that going outside just to kick the ball around has gone too far, and comes with too many negative affects.
Well lets go back to Parent 2; having someone like parent 2 in your family can lead to Impacting your emotional development and self esteem, damaging the bond between you and your parent, and it can even make you look negatively at sports and you will want to give up, letting the team and yourself down. Honestly I think parents are just chasing their lost dreams through us, but at the same time ruining our dreams by obsessing about winning. And the thing that gets us down is when they say “Tom you have to win this race no matter what” This puts you under pressure and you take it on thinking that you will definitely win, but if you lose to you it seems like the whole sky has just landed on your head and the world is crumbling down around you. Then you feel like you have let your parents down and you take it out on yourself thinking it is all your fault and you will want to give up!
Though We can't argue, there is two opinions in this argument. I mean us kids don't always mind a helping hand, and sometimes we really do need it, but when they get over involved in something, everything, and I mean everything goes straight down hill! When a parent takes over our sport it we lose desire for it but we only participate to keep our parents happy. What I personally get really annoyed about it when you have done lots of training at school for your school athletics and you're ready to go and you can't wait for it to start. But then out the corner of your eye you see this waving had in the distance and your heart drops. So you're at the start line and the clappers go and all you can hear is that one call from your parents and your dignity is gone just like that! I don't get it, why do parents have to come watch, all they do is embarrass us! Just remembering we can't complain too much because if it weren't for our parents we wouldn't be doing sport at all, they pay for us to go, they drive us there (most of the time) Sometimes I can see where they are coming from because they love the feeling of being proud of us but to also know that not just us have achieved but them in a way that they know that they are a good parent. Parents don't just push us so they can feel good but they do it for us, so that when we go on the field it's not like we don't know how to pass and so we don't get even more embarrassed. But over all parents know what it is like to be kids and the know what it's like to feel embarrassed so they only try to do their best for us so we can have that special moment and know what it's like to achieve.
Luckily for me I don't have pushy parents. But overall I think parents only try to do the right thing (most of the time) but sometimes they just need to let loose a few strings and leave it up to us. Though they do embarrass us remember that we will have that chance one day too. So do you think parents are pushing us as children too hard in our chosen sport and is it affecting our performance and the outcome? You decide!
