To Quit or Not to Quit??

With a rainy day here in Garrison I was able to spend some time with my youngest at the gym and prepare for my sons communion this weekend.  Have to Love rainy days.

With the spring in full swing and children so committed to team sports their is often the battle or controversy of not enjoying oneself.  If you find yourself in this situation their are some steps you can take to try to avoid a battle. 

Find out why they want to quit…really why.

Is your child no longer having fun? Do they want to quit because they don’t know anyone on the team? Do they not like the coach? Do they want to try a different sport? Would they rather be doing another extracurricular activity? Do they feel like they aren’t good enough for the team? If you can find out the real reason they want to quit their youth sports team you might be able to come up with a solution.

Talk to the coach.

The coach might be able to help you better understand your child’s role on the team. Does he/she notice that your child is having a hard time keeping up with the level of play? Are they distracted at practice? How well do they interact with the other players? It always helps to get another point of view so you can better understand why your child might no longer be interested in youth sports. You also want to make sure the coach isn’t caught by surprise if your child stops coming to practice one day midway through the season. A lot of coaches blame themselves if a player quits the team, and if it isn’t their fault (maybe your child would just rather learn an instrument than play lacrosse) you don’t want them to be stuck with the guilt.

Decide if it’s worth the battle.

If the season hasn’t started yet, quitting youth sports is relatively simple. However, if you’re a month in with two months to go you are stuck between a rock and a hard place. You might decide that since your child is a part of a youth sports team, they have a responsibility to that team and need to finish out the season. Explain that they don’t have to play next year, but since they made a commitment they have to stick it out. One of the valuable life lessons youth sports teaches kids is to honor their obligations and see something through to the end.

Let them quit.

It might sound crazy, but sometimes letting your child quit sports is the right thing to do. You never want to pressure your child into playing youth sports, especially when they are miserable every step of the way. If their health or school work seems to be negatively affected by belonging to a youth sports team, it’s probably not worth sticking around for much longer.

I hope this helps if you are ever faced with the situation of quitting.

Good luck and keep belonging.
Todd

PS:  Copies of Three Step Parenting are selling quick,  See what people are saying about the book and  pick up your copy now by clicking the link below. 

http://threestepparenting.blogspot.com/p/three-step-plan.html