I was at the Girls State Meet yesterday. It is the meet that concludes the swim season-all the teams from Illinois came together to compete at the natatorium in Evanston. As I was watching the girls compete, I noticed the parents' reactions to their child swim. One set of parents stuck out to me-they cried from joy after their daughter swam. Which made me think of the complete opposite reaction in some parents. Since I'm a swimmer, I've been to many swim meets in my day, and with that, I've seen a number of parents who have gotten made at their child for swimming poorly.
And my question is, why? It doesn't make sense, and it doesn't seem right, for parents to yell and punish if they're child doesn't do as well as they want. And this includes all sports, not just swimming. I think it comes down to competitiveness. Parents want their child to succeed so much, to be the best, that some I think will do anything to "motivate" their child. They want their child to be better than other children. I've seen people crack under the pressure of their parents: they'd rather do well for the sake of their parents than for themselves. And this just seems unfair. So my other question is, what is your take on over-competitive parents? Why do you think they act like this?
2 comments:
I have seen the same type of parents at volleyball tournament. they scream at there kids when they miss a pass or hit it stright to the lebero. It makes the kid so uncomfortable for the rest of the game. I agree with you about the parents being competitive some times it seems that the parents want the win more than the player. I think that parents act this way cause they want there kid to surpass everyone else in there sport and to be the best, maybe cause the parents were not.
I have thought about this question before multiple times. I am not sure if I have an answer, but I think that it might be because maybe when they were kids, they wished that they had had a chance to do the amazing things that we are doing and wished that if they did that their parents would have cheered them on. I think that the same thing happens in school, parents want their kids to overachieve so that they can feel like they are doing good and it doesn't matter what the child wants to do. I am not exactly sure what the answer is but I would like to know if there is an answer or if its just the way things are, and when our generation becomes parents will we do the same thing?
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