Dear Psycho Parents on the Sidelines –

Dear Psycho Parents on the Sidelines –

After nine years of listening to you yell at your kids on the field, the refs and the coaches, watching you throw water bottles, chairs and various other objects on the grass in a huff, and making everyone else around you extremely uncomfortable, I am speaking up. These are children. They are not your fraternity brothers or your work buddies. They are impressionable and vulnerable. Every time you scream– “What the hell was that, “What’s wrong with you,” or “How could you have missed that,” they HEAR you. If you think for one minute you are making them a better player, think again. There is a reason your kids team has a COACH. It’s the coach’s job to teach your children how to play. Not yours. Every single time you screech a derogatory remark, it is a shot to their young hearts and EGO. Have you thought for one minute how you are making them feel in front of all of their peers? Have you put yourself in their small shoes for a millisecond to imagine what it must be like to be embarrassed by their bat shit crazy parent?

Over what?

OVER a soccer game? Over a basketball game? Over a lacrosse game? Over a baseball game? Sports are supposed to be fun at this age not stressful. Kids should be excited for their Saturday game, not dreading it because they are fearing what their parent is going to utter on the sidelines.

And to the parents who have the gall to tell ME what my kids are not doing correctly, you can go f*&k yourself. My kids are not going to be on the Red Bulls, the Knicks, the Rangers or the Yankees. I am 99.99999999% sure. BUT if they want to believe that one day they will be, I sure as hell will let them believe it. I don’t need your under-the-breath comment about how my kid isn’t on his A game.  You want to become a coach, do it, but leave my kid out of it. We already know how perfect your kid is and how he will DEFINITELY be recruited for the Yankees. We know.

Lastly, to the parents who are “scouting,” Yes, the parents who apparently have a shit load of time on their hands and show up to an in-town game their kid is NOT playing in to “scout” their kids competition. GET A GRIP. Does it make such a difference that John Jones is a better athlete then your son? Are you really taking 1.5 hours out of your day to sit and judge the other kids in town and take mental notes of who their high school competition will be in a year or two? Don’t you have better things to do? Why does it even matter? If your kid isn’t worried, you shouldn’t be. Stop making them feel inadequate, insecure, belittled and sad.

Sincerely,

One pissed off parent.

xx