Sooooo, what does everyone think.........

of those parents that try and relive their lives(or the ones they wanted to live), by not only forcing their kids to compete in athletic activities, but forced them beyond their potential?

Or, how about those parents that show up at every game and scream at their kids, the refs, and the other team's players, for the entire game?

Whatever happened to "No matter who wins, it's just a game. Have fun, and do your best"?

They should have their children taken away from them.

It makes me not want to get my future children involved in competitive sports, despite my love for them

Good topic ASG.. It's called living vicariously through your children. I don't think, these people have ever gotten over whatever was lacking in their childhood, and need it fulfilled through their children. This acts as some sort of validation in life for them. It boils down to insecurity, like so many other things do. Hopefully, the child comes out of it ok, emotionally and does not repeat the cycle.

~Piper

You hear stories of parents attacking umpires, coaches and even kids from the opposing teams, and you just have to shake your head and wonder what went wrong.

I've seen it, and its not pretty. Surprisingly the mothers seem to do it as much as the fathers, according to my experience, which seems a bit off.

It's like a battle between some parents about whose kid is better. The worst times are when the kid becomes something less then the parent's child and more of an item to show off. That's when the parent really just needs to whack themselves over the head.

What? In a competitive, capitalistic society like the U.S., where winning and being the best is everything?

Seriously though, I?m just glad that I grew up in a time when that kind of stuff didn?t happen. Not every parent thought their kid was going to be the next Jordan, or Montana, or whatever?

I do want my kids to play sports though. I find it better that they actually get out and be physically active, learn a sense of being a part of a team and good sportsmanship ? as opposed to sitting around, getting fat, playing video games all day.

I?d just simply support them in whatever sport they want to play and not drive them into the ground about it.

Well... my dad always wanted to ski when he was a kid. But they were rather poor, and my grandma would say "oh no, son, you'd just break your legs", and that would be it. So yeah, he might've been living his childhood dream through me - he and my mum started to teach me to ski when I was around 3, I hardly remember the beginnings. But even though I've been skiing practically through my whole life (and I was even competing in our town's ski club), I never felt that I was forced to do it against my will. Sure, sometimes my dad would be a bit hard on me, when he felt I could do better, but overall, I always enjoyed skiing and I was glad I had the opportunity to do so. After all, it's a pretty expensive sport, even if you don't want to do it professionally (take football, for instance - you only need a ball, several other people, and a piece of flat ground to play it; to ski, you need to have skis, ski boots, ski poles, appropriate clothing, goggles, AND you need to buy a ski-pass, not mention travelling to a ski resort if you don't have it "behind your house" like I do...).

Anyway, I'd say it always depends on the relationship between the parents and their children - a reasonable parent won't force their child into something they evidently hate, whether it be sport or musical instrument or whatever. That said, I think it's good when parents encourage their kids to do some kind of sport - not only it's healthy for the body, but it also helps the kids to gain self-discipline, perseverance, and team spirit.

Right. I think that if the child is the one who wants to play the sport, that's fine, and I have no problem with parents making a kid stick it out, because they made a commitment. But I really dislike when parents are the ones who want the child to play the sport, and the child is too afraid to say no, even if they don't like it. That pisses me off.

[image=http://img136.imageshack.us/img136/369/margulies713ha0.gif] [image=http://img140.imageshack.us/img140/3164/fairringtoncq0.gif] [image=http://img135.imageshack.us/img135/5845/plante716ew0.gif]

That second graphic is scary.

As it is so true.


Edit: Not that they aren't all true in their comic sense. I just have had more scenarios like the second one.