Parents of football-playing children often spend most of their time acting as either taxi or cheerleader to their offspring.
But it is important that you recognise you have a bigger role to play in their progress and happiness. Here are six more tips to help you encourage them to be the best they can:
Analyse
Analysing each match after it has taken place is essential. Identifying what went well and what went badly is an important way to help your child see if they have made any progress or reached their goals. But dont go over the top – youre not Gary Lineker, after all, and this is not the World Cup.
Feedback
Linked to this, it is a good idea to give your child feedback on their performance. Asking them what they thought of the match, and offering up your own comments, will help them come to conclusions about how they need to improve next time.
Be positive
It is well known that positive comments have much more impact on children than negative ones, although this does not mean you should never criticise.
Research has shown that the most effective praise to criticism ratio in any setting is about 6:1 – that is, you should aim for six positive comments for every negative one.
I cant
At times, your child will hold their own negative opinions about their abilities. It is important that you help them overcome any negative thoughts, so they develop a can do attitude. You may want to point out how they have already overcome challenges, or stress that they can achieve anything if they put their mind to it.
Let them take control
As their parent, it is natural that you want to guide them, but there will come a time when they are old enough to take control of their own future plans. Giving your child responsibility is an important step in their development.
Be a parent
As a parent, your most important role is not to help wash the team football kits (like those available at https://www.kitking.co.uk), but to be there for your child when they need you.
Being a parent is all about support, encouragement and guidance and a mixture of all three will help your child go a long way towards reaching their football aspirations.
