It's Their Game, Not Yours: Keeping Cool at Sports Events

Game day is exciting. Your kid is out there in their uniform, the gym is loud, and the refs are making calls you're pretty sure are wrong. It's easy to get swept up in the moment.

But here's a grounding thought: the game is not about the blind pursuit of victory. The whole point is to help kids grow stronger physically, emotionally, socially through the experience of competition. Which means the game is for them, not us.

The Rules

If you want to be a good role-model:

• Cheer for everyone. Applaud positive accomplishments for your child, their teammates, AND the other team.

• Don't instruct from the sidelines. That's what the coaches are there for and your kid might get very confused.

• Keep it clean. No foul language, no threatening behavior, no arguing with officials.

The best athletes accept success with humility and failure with grace. Let’s teach our kids that. When you stay calm after a bad call, shrug off a loss, and congratulate the other team, your kid notices. That's the character formation the program is actually after.