5 Influential Parenting Tips to Become a Better Youth Sports Parent

Though a parent should be glad when their child finds a passion of any kind, getting them into a sport could be one of the greatest gifts you offer.

Influential parenting is one of the easiest ways to teach kids to love exercise, and as they grow, serves as the foundation for a healthy, balanced life.

Social skills, the discipline, and the focus on teamwork are a few other things it can help them learn. If you have a sport you love, then that might be where you think to start.

Few words about influential parenting

Influential parenting is nothing but a positive influence that parents exert upon their children in grooming their conduct and character. Be it in sports or academics; positive parenting skills can go a long way in shaping their child’s future.

So, how do you go about influencing them in the right direction? Let’s consider the following points.

How to be a better youth sports parent

You can help your child enjoy sports by start training them right from a tender age. Following are a few tips to help children build a career in sports through influential parenting.

1. Coach them from the beginning

First of all, it’s important to remember that the mechanics of the sport may be alien to them. Even if they know a little about it, putting it all in motion is a challenge in and of itself.

Depending on their age, make sure you’re helping them master the skills most relevant to their development. Help them work not only on the skills that make up the game, whether it’s dribbling or batting, but get into play that encourages running, skipping, and jumping.

You can’t neglect the motor and mobility skills that serve as the foundation for everything else.

2. It accessible

If you leave a football lying on the porch, then it is eventually going to garner the interest and curiosity of your child. They’re going to be naturally intent on checking it out and trying it for themselves.

Creating a more active play space and letting the child interact with it makes the sport so much more accessible and you can slip into playtime and lessons a lot more naturally. If you have your own basketball hoop, they’re going to want to try dunk. If there’s a baseball, they’re going to want to pitch.

Let their intuition lead the way and guide them once they’ve found it.

3. Lead by example

Children are already greatly influenced by parents that have a loving, warm relationship with them.

We see it all the time, in kids picking up and playing with dolls, mimicking their own parenting experience, playing at chores, and occasionally repeating that one phrase you really regretted saying.

It’s only natural if your love of the game shines through that they will want to mimic that as well. Rather than trying to convince them to get out and shoot some hoops, you should take the time to go out there yourself, especially when they’re free of distraction.

They’re going to join you anyway, so you don’t need to do too much to coerce them.

4. Don’t push too hard

This might sound obvious, but the truth is that many parents don’t know when they’re being pushy or the effect that it has on your child’s relationship with both you and the sport. This is one of the major side-effects of indulging too much in influential parenting.

Don’t make an intense focus, don’t make sports the core of your relationship, and don’t manage every aspect of their spare time around the sport. It’s going to end up feeling more like a chore rather than something that they want to actively participate in.

A good way to ensure this doesn’t happen is to encourage other interests, as well, sporting or not. Similarly, while you’re practicing, remember that it is nothing but a game. If they don’t always take it seriously, or if they want to try something new and fun, give them the room to.

It makes it more likely they’ll come back to it later.

5. Keep It positive

No matter what stage of influence you’re at, whether you’re still playing in the general vicinity of sports equipment or you’re helping them join a league, you must be a source of positivity for them.

Sharing encouragement when they’re exerting effort and praise when they’re succeeding is one thing. But other negative habits parents tend to get into is comparing them to other kids.

Focusing solely on the performance rather than the effort, and having specific expectations for their performance are few such examples.

If you want to learn how they’re doing, keep questions more effective, and if you are trying to improve their technique, give specific advice instead of simply telling them to push harder or run faster.

It’s important to recognize that, at the end of the day, it is your child’s say. It’s not appropriate to express disappointment or frustration if they simply can’t get into your sport.

Instead, encourage them to explore other avenues, and see what kind of sports or physical hobby they enjoy instead. Otherwise, you could be stuck fighting a losing battle. And, this is what influential parenting is all about.

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