I suppose it's hard, as a parent, to find that nice balance between encouraging our kids to excel and grinding their little souls into the dirt with a "BE THE BEST!" set of expectations. But wow, I read this story of anxiety-riddled little kids terrified of letting their parents down and thought, "Ugh." How sad is that, kids faking injuries so they don't risk failure on the sports field? Or having a sport go from fun to frightening just because mom is watching? I guess I'm lucky my kid could give a rat's ass what I think of her t-ball performance, because I'd hate to send her into this kind of panic just because she dropped the ball.
At the risk of getting all afterschool special on y'all, one of the lessons we've worked on as a family is the whole idea of mistakes as an opportunity to learn. And I loved what Jessica had to say on this topic a while back. In my other job as a trainer, I sometimes see adults who have been so traumatized by aggressive coach parents that they are afraid to even attempt anything athletic. I wish these grown ups could have played on my kid's t-ball team, where there is no such thing as keeping score and it's not uncommon for the batter to hug the first base player on the way to home.
