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Empowering Conversations With Your Child

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In order to help get the most from your child’s experience playing sports, it is important that parents try to engage in meaningful conversations. Talking to your children about their involvement can help foster a deeper impact from sport. It can also help children understand how the lessons and skills they are learning in sports translate to other parts of life. This is a great way to maximize your child's growth through youth sports.

Since kids may not share thoughts about their your sports experience unless prompted, it is the parent’s role to explore strategies to get their children talking. Different kids will respond to different strategies, and parents should feel comfortable having these in their “tool box” in hopes they find a good fit.

For example, use open-ended conversation starters, such as “tell me about the most fun part of practice today,” instead of asking questions that elicit one word answers, such as “did you have fun at practice?”

Another strategy is to connect through an activity. Play a game, throw a ball around, or choose another activity to simultaneously share while talking about sports. Most importantly, it is parents' responsibility to listen and let their children direct the conversation whenever possible.

These conversations may seem tough to initiate, which is why Positive Coaching Alliance has put together these tips for empowering conversation with your child. Utilizing these strategies provides parents the platform they need to best support their young athlete.

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