Today was my son's first wrestling tournament of the season, as usual you see the crazy sports parents who are trying to relive their childhood through their child. They stress themselves out and their children out way too much over a children's wrestling tournament. As I was standing outside, a parent walks out and says "this is going to kill me" referring to his child. Apparently, his child wasn't doing as well as he thought he should. Last year, there were too many dads out in the hallway with their children scolding them for not winning. I understand you want your child to win, but come on; what kind of message are you sending to your child that doing his best isn't good enough? It's not just in wrestling, my daughter was cheerleading in the fall and at one of the games, two of the parents almost got into a fight after one of the games. One of the parents was a cheerleader's mom and the other was a father of a football player, the mother didn't think he was showing the spirit and didn't like some of the comments he was saying to another parent.
On the other hand you have the parents who can not seem to let go of their children and let them play. You have these boys who cry after they lose their bout because their parents have babied them way too much. One parent had to be asked to get off the mat by the coach because he went out on to the mat to hug his child because he had started crying during a bout. Come on parents, let your children grow up. If you have smothered and babied your child so much that they can't make it through a wrestling bout, there's a problem. Let go a little bit and let your child stand on their own two feet. They can't even enjoy the sport they are playing because their parents have their nose stuck their ass.
Don't get me wrong, I'm down their screaming and yelling chearing my son on. I enjoy every minute of it. But, if he loses I know he did his best and I tell him "he did a good job."
Parents, please get your nose out of your child's ass long enough to let them play and for those parents trying to relive their childhood through their child, it's not your childhood, it's theirs so let them live it and enjoy it while they can.
