Successfully managing a kid's playing time involves a lot of tasks and activities. In the course of a typical season, a parent does many things, including:
- Praise and criticize
- Comment, discuss and explain
- Motivate
- Set examples
- Practice
- Influence the type of sport
- Influence team choices
- Interact with other team parents
- Suggest changes and improvements
- Judge the quality of officiating
- Judge the quality of the coaching
- Judge the quality of the league programs
- Judge the success of the team
- Influence attitude
- Focus or distract
- Acquire and maintain equipment
- Supervise rest, diet and conditioning
- Provide transportation
- Influence practice schedules
- Mediate conflicts
There are positive and negative ways to carry out each of these activities and parents must understand the short and long-term consequences of their own actions. If the short-term goal is to make sure a child plays the best game ever, each activity is approached one way. If, on the other hand, the long-term goal is to make sure a child enjoys playing and continues playing as long as possible, a different approach is required.
