Kids and Sports

Don't take this the wrong way. I want my kids to be active. I want them to participate in sports. Heck I'm hoping that a healthy interest in sports will help me stave off the tween years for my daughter. But as I look around as my kids start to get involved in sports. I wonder if everything there is as good as it should be.

I want my kids to have fun while they play soccer, or do gymnastics, or try a kids triathlon, or anything else that their hearts desire. But, I worry that exposing them to the pressure to "win", even when scores are not kept, might start everything off on the wrong foot. At every event we've been to with our kids, there are parents who are truly supportive; encouraging, sympathetic and overjoyed when things go right. And when the 5 year olds are playing soccer, things going right might just be that they are headed in the correct direction on the field. But there always seem to be those parents that are a bit over the top. Cheering and urging on from the sidelines perhaps a bit more than is needed when the athlete is 4, getting a little too upset when kids stop to notice that the clouds above look like a pony, rather than that a goal was just scored by the opposing team. I want to be the parent who can gently suggest that we look at the clouds later and focus on helping our friends play the game now. But I wonder how easy it is to become the "other" parent. How easy it is to get caught up in the game and wanting to be best, wanting to win?

I know that sports are fabulous for kids. I just want to be sure that in this family we make sure that kids enjoy the sport for the sake of sport and not because its all about winning. Each time we head out the door with equipment in hand I try and remind myself of this because it seems the parental peer pressure can be a bit crazy.