{"id":118,"date":"2009-06-26T01:57:11","date_gmt":"2009-06-26T01:57:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.youthsportspsychology.com\/youth_sports_psychology_blog\/?p=118"},"modified":"2025-08-08T02:07:38","modified_gmt":"2025-08-08T06:07:38","slug":"how-parents-can-help-sports-kids-take-more-risks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.youthsportspsychology.com\/youth_sports_psychology_blog\/how-parents-can-help-sports-kids-take-more-risks\/","title":{"rendered":"How Parents Can help Sports Kids Take More Risks"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-text-align-center\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-3453\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youthsportspsychology.com\/youth_sports_psychology_blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/confessions-of-a-sports-mom-who-fueled-her-sons-perfectionism.jpg\" alt=\"Youth Sports Psychology\" width=\"600\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.youthsportspsychology.com\/youth_sports_psychology_blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/confessions-of-a-sports-mom-who-fueled-her-sons-perfectionism.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.youthsportspsychology.com\/youth_sports_psychology_blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/confessions-of-a-sports-mom-who-fueled-her-sons-perfectionism-300x150.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-text-align-center\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Parental_Pressure_on_Sports_Kids\"><\/span>Parental Pressure on Sports Kids<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2><div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_83 ez-toc-wrap-center counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-grey ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<div class=\"ez-toc-title-container\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<span class=\"ez-toc-title-toggle\"><a href=\"#\" class=\"ez-toc-pull-right ez-toc-btn ez-toc-btn-xs ez-toc-btn-default ez-toc-toggle\" aria-label=\"Toggle Table of Content\"><span class=\"ez-toc-js-icon-con\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youthsportspsychology.com\/youth_sports_psychology_blog\/how-parents-can-help-sports-kids-take-more-risks\/#Parental_Pressure_on_Sports_Kids\" >Parental Pressure on Sports Kids<\/a><ul class='ez-toc-list-level-3' ><li class='ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youthsportspsychology.com\/youth_sports_psychology_blog\/how-parents-can-help-sports-kids-take-more-risks\/#%E2%80%9CHaving_parents_attend_practices_too_often_can_put_pressure_on_the_kids%E2%80%9D\" >&#8220;Having parents attend practices too often can put pressure on the kids.&#8221;<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youthsportspsychology.com\/youth_sports_psychology_blog\/how-parents-can-help-sports-kids-take-more-risks\/#Related_Articles_on_Youth_Sports\" >Related Articles on Youth Sports:<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-4\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youthsportspsychology.com\/youth_sports_psychology_blog\/how-parents-can-help-sports-kids-take-more-risks\/#Help_Young_Athletes_Boost_Confidence_in_Sports\" >Help Young Athletes Boost Confidence in Sports!<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n\n\n\n\n<p>Sports parents, did it ever occur to you that spending too much time watching your kids practice their sport makes it hard for them to take risks and grow as athletes?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Huh? You might ask. What&#8217;s the link between watching them practice and ensuring they take risks? And what are the benefits of risk-taking, anyway?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Read on&#8230;. You&#8217;ll learn what former pro baseball player Tommy Weber has to say about this topic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Weber is now coaching kids&#8217; instructional clinics. He thinks parents spend too much time hanging around sports practices in ways that inhibit kids&#8217; ability to perform and have fun.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>&#8220;If we truly want kids to play\u2014that&#8217;s an important word\u2014playing\u2014there is a certain level of supervision that helps kids participate and enjoy themselves more. When Mom or Dad is there, I see kids looking to see if Mom or Dad saw them miss the ball.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The truth is, he says:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"%E2%80%9CHaving_parents_attend_practices_too_often_can_put_pressure_on_the_kids%E2%80%9D\"><\/span>&#8220;Having parents attend practices too often can put pressure on the kids.&#8221;<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p><em>&#8220;They know their dad is up there making sure they do it the way their dad told them to do it. It inhibits them for reaching for something beyond their grasp and something they wouldn&#8217;t do within the confines of parental supervision,&#8221;<\/em> he says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As a coach, Weber wants his kids to take risks, try to do difficult things, make mistakes and feel safe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>&#8220;What parents want is for kids to do well,&#8221;<\/em> he says.<em> &#8220;It puts a lot of pressure on the kids.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Here at kidssportspsychology.com and youthsportspsychology.com, we agree that it&#8217;s critical for kids to take risks. When kids take risks and make mistakes, they learn and grow. Take ice skating, for example. If kids aren&#8217;t willing to fall down, it&#8217;s unlikely they&#8217;re going to learn how to skate!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you want your kids to take essential risks, it&#8217;s important for you to let them develop their own passions. Says Weber.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>&#8220;My father was also a professional baseball player. He allowed me to develop my own passion. A parent&#8217;s job is to find something your kid loves to do and encourage him,&#8221;<\/em> he says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You should also be very careful about how you give your athletes feedback. If you criticize them too much, they&#8217;ll avoid making mistakes. That means they&#8217;ll start playing<strong> tentatively<\/strong> and will avoid taking risks. They&#8217;ll play scared. That&#8217;s not a good recipe for learning and growing!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>What&#8217;s more, be sure to find positive things to say about your child&#8217;s performance. If they feel supported by you, they&#8217;re more likely to try new things. They&#8217;ll play or perform with more creativity, which will likely lead to important growth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-dots\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"related-articles-on-hockey-mental-game\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Related_Articles_on_Youth_Sports\"><\/span>Related Articles on Youth Sports:<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youthsportspsychology.com\/youth_sports_psychology_blog\/where-does-sports-kids-pressure-come-from\/\"><strong>Where Does Sports Kids\u2019 Pressure Come From?<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youthsportspsychology.com\/youth_sports_psychology_blog\/how-do-parental-expectations-hurt-young-athletes\/\"><strong>How Do Parental Expectations Hurt Young Athletes?<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youthsportspsychology.com\/youth_sports_psychology_blog\/helping-sports-kids-who-feel-pressured-by-adult-values\/\"><strong>Helping Sports Kids Who Feel Pressured By Adult Values<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p id=\"block-f49818fa-7c7a-4ee3-b5ee-66581aad2c71\">*Subscribe to<strong>\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/podcasts.apple.com\/us\/podcast\/sports-psychology-podcast-by-peaksports-com\/id152566009\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">The Sports Psychology Podcast<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0on iTunes<br>*Subscribe to <a href=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/show\/0ynyaalKxbnNmsoeL8gF5X?si=8224669de9b3435b\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><strong>The Sports Psychology Podcast<\/strong><\/a> on Spotify<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-dots\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Help_Young_Athletes_Boost_Confidence_in_Sports\"><\/span>Help Young Athletes Boost Confidence in Sports!<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignright size-full is-resized\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youthsportspsychology.com\/youth_sports_psychology_blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/ultimate-sports-parent-small.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"225\" height=\"250\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youthsportspsychology.com\/youth_sports_psychology_blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/ultimate-sports-parent-small.jpg\" alt=\"The Ultimate Sports Parent\" class=\"wp-image-11157\" style=\"width:167px;height:auto\"\/><\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>Every day, we receive letters from parents like you who want their children and teens to excel in sports. However, these parents can <strong>see fear, doubt, and frustration on the faces of their kids<\/strong> who struggle with the \u201cinner\u201d game of sports. But these parents have no idea how to help their kids <strong>overcome the worries, expectations and self-defeating thoughts<\/strong> that prevent their young athletes from feeling confident and successful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You can benefit from our 1<strong>5-plus years\u2019 of work in sports psychology and sports parenting research<\/strong>. Now, you can <strong>tap into our secrets to sports success<\/strong> through a cutting-edge, 14-day program that helps young athletes overcome the top \u201cmental game\u201d challenges that sports parents face\u2014and the top <strong>challenges young athletes face<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"gb-container gb-container-fbab03ed\">\n\n<a class=\"gb-button gb-button-fa7bf2e7 gb-button-text\" href=\"https:\/\/www.peaksports.com\/ultimate-sports-parent-workbook-cd-program\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">GET DETAILS<\/a>\n\n\n\n<a class=\"gb-button gb-button-33bcee1d gb-button-text\" href=\"https:\/\/shop.peaksports.com\/products\/the-ultimate-sports-parent-digital\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">BUY NOW<\/a>\n\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Parental Pressure on Sports Kids Sports parents, did it ever occur to you that spending too much time watching your kids practice their sport makes it hard for them to take risks and grow as athletes? Huh? You might ask. What&#8217;s the link between watching them practice and ensuring they &#8230; <a title=\"How Parents Can help Sports Kids Take More Risks\" class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youthsportspsychology.com\/youth_sports_psychology_blog\/how-parents-can-help-sports-kids-take-more-risks\/\" aria-label=\"Read more about How Parents Can help Sports Kids Take More Risks\">Read Sport Psychology Tip<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3460,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26,19,7,6],"tags":[264,261,253,48,117],"class_list":["post-118","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-confidence-in-young-athletes","category-pressure-in-sports","category-sports-psychology-for-kids","category-youth-sports-psychology-blog","tag-confidence-in-young-athletes","tag-pressure-in-sports","tag-youth-sports-psychology-blog","tag-trust","tag-youth-sports-psychology","resize-featured-image"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.youthsportspsychology.com\/youth_sports_psychology_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.youthsportspsychology.com\/youth_sports_psychology_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.youthsportspsychology.com\/youth_sports_psychology_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.youthsportspsychology.com\/youth_sports_psychology_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.youthsportspsychology.com\/youth_sports_psychology_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=118"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.youthsportspsychology.com\/youth_sports_psychology_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.youthsportspsychology.com\/youth_sports_psychology_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3460"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.youthsportspsychology.com\/youth_sports_psychology_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=118"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.youthsportspsychology.com\/youth_sports_psychology_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=118"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.youthsportspsychology.com\/youth_sports_psychology_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=118"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}