and I wanted him to take on more of a leadership role with the team. So I showed him this video.
Am I a bad parent? My 12 year old boy had his Little League opener today
- Thread starter PSU95alum
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If you stayed home to watch wrestling I'd say "yes". You did good.
Well, Butler was sort of correct - you did tell your kid about him....by showing him the video...
Lol I laughed I think the standard of being a good parent is. I am feeding him meth in his cereal? NO. Ok I'm good
NO, not a bad parent, but a competitive parent....the well being of the child is often ignored. I'm 70, and been thru it all. Little basesball, football, basketball with my kids and with my grandchildren... I was very actively involved junior thru high school. The asinine attitude about "molding" for sports is pathetic. Let the children play naturally, but that can no longer be, because the kid down the block has a personal trainer and will surpass my child.
My first thoughts are whether your kid wants to be more of a leader. I never pushed my kids into activities they didn't want to do. My daughter was in swimming and decided she didn't want to do it anymore. My son was in soccer and he decided he didn't want to do it. Forcing into something that I wanted seemed to be counterproductive. Not everyone wants to be a leader, not everyone wants to even play the game.
I'm thinking of a squeaky-voiced, 7 year old PSU95alum screeching,"they dont have the tradition to hold our nuts!" at his little buddies before he trots out to right field.
When my youngest daughter was about that age, she was the center fielder. There was no chance in hell anyone would hit the ball to her. Constant reminders to "pay attention" were required. After one inning, she ran in all excited. "Dad, I found a 4 leaf clover!"
We still have it.
You have to balance that though (obviously I have no knowledge of your situation). You want to encourage them to stick with things that they might eventually enjoy, but definitely don't want to force them to do things that they'll never enjoy.
Kids are great when being themselves. My friend talked me into helping out with the young girls softball team because i was very active in the boys sports with my son. During one of the rotations where it was my daughter's turn to sti out a few innings, she fell asleep stretched out on thd bench. Somtimes when the ball is hit to a player, they stand there and cry.
Yeah. It's a fine line. My soccer playing daughter went through a stretch when she was 11-12 where she hated playing and wanted to quit. I convinced her to stick it out and she loved the sport again in a few years. My line was, "You don't have to do soccer, but you have to do SOMETHING. So if it isn't soccer, what is it going to be?" Sports are so valuable....keep in shape, have an identity, have a great group of friends, learn about sacrifice and teamwork, etc.
In baseball, the best way to be a leader is to lead by example. Make sure he doesn’t get down on himself, accepts failure with a short memory, listens to the coach, and doesn’t argue with umpires. Baseball doesn’t need the rah rah type of leader. My son is a very quiet and shy kid, always has been, but he was a leader on his baseball teams because he was very good and because he never made a spectacle of himself.
