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Also, at
beginning, validate your child's ambition. Does he want just to have fun, spend time with his friend and practice sport just for fun of it? Does he want to be good at it and perform at highest level he can go? Or maybe he really wants to make it to Olympics? Wow! I just got an idea for another article: My kid wants to go to Olympics. What sould I do? Well, this will be for issue #3. You will have to stay tuned, folks ;-)
Ok, back to our actual subject. Whatever ambition is will guide you in perseverance matter. If he is serious about being good and competing at highest level then he has to be willing to make some sacrifices and you will have to be a little more "pushy" and insist a little more because sometimes it will be tougher than other times and sometimes he will loose and get discouraged. These are not good reasons to quit. "Au contraire", these should be times to increase athlete's efforts. This is where line between teaching perseverance and pushing too much is getting thinner and thinner. But good communication is always best way to know where is this line. You know, there ARE good reasons to call it quit and you should always aim for your children's happiness first. Do not forget, your son is not a basketball player, he's your son. Your daughter is not a gymnast, she's your daughter. And do not forget that you might have other kids in your family, that are not doing sports and who also need your love. You might laugh but I saw it quite often. All family focus is around youngest daughter who wins tennis tournaments and brothers and sisters do not exist. Sad.
Finally, to make it short (because I can talk about it for hours), always verify where you sign up your children. Is it a serious organization with a clean history? Who are coaches, volunteers? What are there background? Do they have criminal records? Yes, I'm serious, criminal records! As a parent, you are allowed, and you HAVE to verify this because you are going to entrust most precious thing in your life to this person and sometimes for more than 20 hours a week for high level athletes. Be twice as careful with male coaches and volunteers. This might sounds like a prejudice but it's a fact; when we hear about horror stories, 80% of time it is a man.
Well, on this bright note ;-)) I say that's it for now. And don't let last paragraph scares you. 99.9% of organizations and volunteers are great with kids and you should encourage your kids to do some activities. With all those bad news about overweight kids in North America, we owe it to them to make sure to will live long and healthy.
Good bye and take care of your kids!
Mario Campeau has over 23 years of experience in sports organizations for children, 14 years of coaching, and is a father of 3 girls who are highly involved in competition sports.
