This may seem stupid to some, but I really hate it when you spend a fortune on sports for your kids, and there are kids who disrupt the whole session while mum and dad sit there and don't put them in their place, some even laughing at their kids. Yes I understand it's for fun, but some kids really want to learn and its hard when kids are being noisy, not listening, being rude and playing, trying purposely to annoy those who want to do the right thing. My son plays up, but I pull him into line, while his sister tries to focus and do her best. Why is it so hard for others to do the same?
7 Replies
Parents expectations can be widely different on this. Also, coach ability to manage behaviour of the kids comes into it. A well run place has well trained coaches that know how to manage them, while coaches that dont are easy to spot as behaviour/engagement goes to shit quite quickly, kids respond to the situation.
Not necessarily. In my sons sporting group, martial arts, there is one child who continually disrupts the class. Most of the children only need a gentle reminder from the coach if they become disruptive. Some children won’t listen at all. The parent sits on the side and does not encourage her child to behave at all.
It’s really tricky - as a parent I share the frustration.
However often people feel if they step in it’s taking away from the person running the activities authority..
Parents who laugh at their kids when they're being turds are monumentally stupid. I've seen it a lot in my time, it never gets less frustrating. Especially once that kid turns into an entitled, disrespectful teenager and then the parents are just scratching their heads wondering where it all went wrong...
Having said that, you're talking about kids sports. You may need to lower your standards a tad!
There's going to be noise, interruptions and some general silliness, there will be kids who are overly excitable, kids who struggle to keep quiet and focused etc.
If this is a really significant issue that's preventing your kids from taking anything positive from their sessions, talk to the coach (but keep in mind, the coach may be a volunteer).
This typically becomes less of an issue as kids get older or start playing at competitive club levels too.
Sounds unorganised and it would be hard for the coach to have control of the group with parents hanging around. I have always taught my kids that the coach or teacher is the first boss even when I'm there.
I find it quite frustrating too. I expect that kids can be a little bit up and down with their behaviour and concentration sometimes which is ok when it doesn’t disrupt the whole group but when it is so disruptive that it diverts the coaches attention away from the rest of the group to continually have to tell one specific child off it is frustrating. If the parents are sitting on the side, I agree with you, they should pull their child into line. It does take away from the children who want to learn. My son is part of a group too. If he loses concentration I will gently remind him to focus and be a good partner/team member for the rest of the group.
I think there is a real difference in expectations around extra-curricular activities.
It used to be a huge privilege to do extra-curricula's and the kids knew it, the leaders/teachers and coaches were treated with respect. Parents pulled there kids out if there kids didn’t behave because they weren’t going to waste resources on an activity a kid wasn’t passionate about.
Now it’s the norm for kids to be doing extra-curricula’s and almost considered a right to do them.
I couldn’t believe my nieces and nephews behaviour in tennis classes when I took them one week. I had to ask my sister why she was sending them if they behaved that way. Apparently they need to know how to place tennis, for there future?! They do other sports that they do behave in, so I just don’t get it .