If you answer yes to any of the following questions, you may be a pushy baseball parent:
Does your kid has a personal trainer and he is not in high school yet?
Does he go to private lessons more than once a week?
Has he had an arm injury before his 12th birthday?
Is your travel baseball budget over $5,000 a year?
Have you missed a family reunion to go to games instead?
Do you have punishment for missing practice before the age of 12?
Have you ever lost sleep because of a child’s game?
Do you have a plan for his college recruitment before he's in high school?
Do you think you are going to make sure he gets the chance you never had?
Do you have pitch charts on your child?
Have you quit a team because you were not getting in the game?
Have you started a travel team so your kid could be the star?
Are you going to decide where he goes to school based on baseball?
Have you verbally abused an opponent or an umpire?
Did you change jobs because it interfered with a team’s schedule?
Are you planning to start school later to improve chances of being in the upper age limits for baseball?
Have you ever got in a fight with another parent, coach or umpire at a game?
Have you ever yelled at another adult, or worse a kid under the age of 18, while he was umpiring a game?
I know nobody reading this would ever say yes to any of those questions, right? But, I'm sure you know someone who would.
I have heard some parents say things like, "My 10 year old has a dream of playing in the Big Leagues and he is so focused that nothing will stop him. We train 4 hours per day and he's going to play 120 games this year." But, your son doesn't want that. Do you know how I know your 10 year old doesn't want to train 4 hours per day and play 120 games? I know because he is 10!
He probably picks his nose when you're not looking and loves fart jokes. If you allowed him he would eat cookies, ice cream and soda at every meal. He should. He's 10!
Your son doesn't want what you want. He wants you! All your child wants is approval, praise, and love from you as a parent.
Too many people mistake their kids desire to please them with their interest in sports. He's trying to connect with you. You could be doing anything with him. It is not about sports.
Try this every now and again:
Take him out for ice cream.
Ask him what else he thinks is cool.
Go for a jog or a walk together.
Try learning a new skill together.
Do silly things to make your son laugh.
Go see a move together.
Try and eat a whole pizza together.
Go volunteer to help the needy together.
Take him to the mall, give him $20 and tell him to buy something for his mom.
Play video games with him.
And, if you said “yes” to any of the above questions, you absolutely must to the following: Look your son in the eyes every day and tell him you love them and give him a hug!
There's only been about 15,000 Major League Baseball players in the history of the game, odds are your son will never be one of them. You will never manufacture your child’s ability.
You could be playing with a very dangerous and fragile thing: your child’s self-worth. For every kid that gets a Division One scholarship or gets drafted by a professional baseball team, there are hundreds who wind up hating and resenting their parents for pushing them so hard in sports.
Am I saying you should not work hard for your goals? No, you should teach your child to set goals and to go for them with everything they have. But, there has to be a balance.
You have to be the voice of reason. You're the adult. Act like it. Your child playing 100 games a year is not going to make him a professional player or a division one prospect. He's more likely to burn out, wind up hating you. And you could put him in a situation where he quits altogether.
Yogi Berra did not play a single organized game of baseball until he was 17.
Your son is going to grow up to be a husband, father, have a career and maybe become a leader. What kind of man is he going to be? Don't screw him up! All your son wants is love. He's your son,give it to him!
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