Are You The Parent Of An Athlete?

If your answer is yes, or if you would just like to get some great parenting advice on a regular basis, let me introduce you to Tom Burgdorf. Tom Burgdorf authors a weekly newsletter geared towards parenting athletes, interacting with their coaches, and good advice for kids in general.

Some of his advice for this past week relates to challenging your kids:

Challenging is different than pressuring. To me it is very important to challenge a child or an athlete when you know what they are capable of doing. A great coach evaluates the talent of each athlete and sets goals that are attainable for each one of them. The coach challenges the athlete to do what the coach knows they can achieve. This is all good. Having big expectations for someone because you know they can reach that level is terrific coaching and parenting.

Unfortunately we went through a period of “let the child do what they want.” Don’t challenge the child too much, it will be a negative to them. What we forgot is that our children don’t know what they are capable of. And in this permissive, over protected world we live in some of the kids stop when the going gets tough. Rather than challenge themselves they hold back. At least until a respected adult steps in and says those famous words “you are capable of doing more.” Just listen to those words.

What do those words mean? They mean “I have been around you, and know you, and I have confidence that you can do more. That isn’t a negative. That is a very special way of saying I believe in you. That is powerful.

So don’t hesitate to challenge your children to help them get close to their potential. That is good parenting.

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