Something EVERY parent needs to read!!

I remember being in a coaches meeting years ago. We got to talking about the father of one of the girls on another of our organization's teams. The head coach of that team said "Yeah, and if you talk to John his daughter sleeps better than everyone else too." I just love that line!

Did you guys actually read the article? Truth is... on every team there are the "best" players, players that are better than others. Being honest with the lower level player, while it may be a little painful, is what they need to hear. The sense of entitlement this generation has is awful.

I think the tide is starting to turn. The new "in" thing to say to our youngsters is "wow, I can really see how much effort you put into that". (rather than the old, "great job! You're amazing!). Perseverance is the new catchphrase.

So yes, I agree with acknowledging another child's skill, just don't beat your kid over the head with it - kids hate that. Just like we moms hate it when the mom in the grocery store crows incessantly about her Darling's perfect score on the SAT and how she just got into Harvard early admission ("but really struggled with her decision. I mean, she had so many choices! How DOES one choose between Harvard and Yale?"). LOL

Out in Left Field said:

That board is awful. You wonder how drama gets stirred up...just stop writing about it and leave it in your head, how people get to those places in their thoughts to begin with is beyond me...

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Did you read the article, or just the headline?

Kids are pretty good at determining who is the best on their team. If you asked them to rank the players I would bet it would be pretty close to how it actually is on the team. One exception is that most girls would rate themselves lower than they really are and most boys would put themselves up a notch or 2.


Now if you asked parents you might get it a little off. Often parents only see what DD does and remember the girl that hit 2 triples that weekend forgetting she went 2-15 with 8 strikeouts.

canyonjoe said:

Kids are pretty good at determining who is the best on their team. If you asked them to rank the players I would bet it would be pretty close to how it actually is on the team. One exception is that most girls would rate themselves lower than they really are and most boys would put themselves up a notch or 2.


Now if you asked parents you might get it a little off. Often parents only see what DD does and remember the girl that hit 2 triples that weekend forgetting she went 2-15 with 8 strikeouts.

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You mean where the SS threw the ball over the 1st baseman head so she went to second. Then while she was on the bag at 2nd they threw the ball into left field and she went to third? That triple?

Pretty far off base with the assumption that we're all in the habit of focusing on faults, looking for excuses, and not giving due credit to standouts, but I guess if that applied, the rest would mean something.

riseball said:

You mean where the SS threw the ball over the 1st baseman head so she went to second. Then while she was on the bag at 2nd they threw the ball into left field and she went to third? That triple?

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And it was a "stand-up" triple, no less!

canyonjoe said:

Kids are pretty good at determining who is the best on their team. If you asked them to rank the players I would bet it would be pretty close to how it actually is on the team. One exception is that most girls would rate themselves lower than they really are and most boys would put themselves up a notch or 2.


Now if you asked parents you might get it a little off. Often parents only see what DD does and remember the girl that hit 2 triples that weekend forgetting she went 2-15 with 8 strikeouts.

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This is a good subject. My DD has become pretty good at assessing players. She's 15 now. But when she was about 12, she didn't have a very accurate assessment of who was good and who wasn't aside from the obvious. She could be easily swayed by rare occurrences of great things, or overrating the value of certain abilities and underrating others. And it was partly because she didn't care that much who was the best and who wasn't. She didn't give it much thought. The more competitive they are (or become), the better they are able to discriminate, IMO.

As for parents, that's a hard one because every parent by definition will believe that his/her assessment is accurate, and everyone else is more or less off. For parents who are knowledgeable about the game, I didn't think they are as far off base as legend would have it.

Late add to post - I also think that kids, especially younger ones, tend to base their judgment of other players on what their coaches and parents tell them, directly on indirectly. That can be significant to a player's development.