Helicopter Sports Parents

How much parental involvement is too much? Are parents overstepping their parental boundaries? In an article from Azcentral Sports "Blurred lines: Are parents getting too involved in high school sports?" posted July 2016, it discusses the typical "helicopter parent" and the problems that arise because of it.

A helicopter parent is defined as a parent who takes an overprotective or excessive interest in the life of their child or children. In a study conducted by the National Alliance of Sports, 70 percent of children drop out of athletics by the time they are 13 years old and according to Youth Sports, 37 percent of youth that were surveyed wished that their parents wouldn't even watch them play. Parents are inadvertently going too far. They may mean well and may not realize that this constant hovering is essentially hindering their child's learning experiences. There is too much pressure to succeed. A professor at the University of Mary said it best, " With Sports, there involves so much passion. There are two types: Harmonious passion, the stuff that makes us better, and obsessive passion, the helicopter parents. They're trying to help the kids but they're killing them". 

Parents think that if they have their kids just choose one sport that it will be better for them. That this will help the kids have the greatest success at that one sport, become an elite athlete, and ultimately hope this will pay for their college careers.  Unfortunately, this is doing the complete opposite. This is driving children to "burn-out" a lot faster than if they were able to have a variety of hobbies. Disappointment reigns over everything. If children are feeling more pressure to stick with the sport than to quit in fear of disappointing their parents than this becomes a real problem. It is the parent's responsibility to support their children, not stress them out. Parents should be creating a positive motivational environment for their children playing sports. 

Helicopter parents can lead to depression in adult children. Whether it be in sports, school, work, parents need to let their children learn and sometimes that means they need to allow their children to fail. As hard as it may be, this is the best thing they could do for their children. Failure promotes learning opportunities like understanding hard work and how to deal with defeat. 

Parents need to realize that the way they act on the sidelines or during their child's sporting event will eventually teach their children learned behaviors on how to act. How far will parents go before they realize the damage they've done to their kids? There needs to be boundaries set among parents and children in sporting events. There shouldn't always be a pressure to succeed, what about the idea of just having fun? Is that not a thing anymore? Does the fact that children by the age of 13 are dropping out of athletics mean anything to parents? When are they going to learn that they are the problem and when are they going to change their ways? 

The article continues to talk about how kids actually prefer JUST their coach to coach them. Parents need to get out of the way and stop interfering. They can support but not criticize. They need to understand when they can't help their children and embrace the coaches who can. Parents need to find an appropriate balance of supporting, but not interfering. Otherwise, when their children grow up, they will have bigger problems to face. 

In conclusion, parents should enjoy the game and let their children enjoy the game. Being moderately involved in their children's sports activities is the ideal amount of support and creates a healthy balance between competition and the overall enjoyment of the sport.