Pushing Our Kids

Jeff Leslie, president of the Jupiter-Tequesta Athletic Association remembers a little girl on the baseball mound waiting to pitch. Suddenly she began crying. When he asked her why, she said her father was embarrassing her too much in the stands by his yelling and screaming at the coaches and umpires. As a result of similar incidents like this one, that league in Florida has begun making an ethics program for parents mandatory if they want their child to participate in any sports with them. The ethics program devised by the National Alliance for Youth Sports is available to all sports organizations but this is the first one to make it mandatory. Leagues across the country are trying different ways to educate the parents, not the child, in behavior appropriate at competitions. I have always maintained that parenting is one of the most difficult professions simply because no one is given a manual to follow or guidelines to choose. Maybe it is time someone starting writing the manual. When we have to legislate behavior on the baseball field for the adults, when we have to teach the grown ups about fairness and rules, and when we have a nation of children so stressed by leisure activities that they begin drinking and starving themselves, then maybe it is time to quit complaining about the difficulties of raising children. Maybe it is time for parents to start using some common sense, to learn about the important things in life, and to memorize the rules regarding respect and fair play. If we don't do these things, then we run the risk of losing our children or at the very least of passing on these destructive behaviors to the next generation.

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