This resource is an excerpt from PCA Founder Jim Thompson’s (@JimThompson18) book, Positive Sports Parenting.

I miss watching my son play sports. When he started playing soccer, basketball, and baseball 25 years ago, it seemed like it would go on forever. But it didn’t. It ended abruptly. One day he stopped playing and it was over – just like that and without much warning.

Here’s the bottom line for sports parents. Your child’s experience with youth sports will come to an end, and it may happen suddenly. If you are at all like me, you will look back and think, “I wish I had enjoyed it more. I wish I hadn’t obsessed so much about how well my child was performing, or the team’s record, or whether he was playing as much as I wanted, or why the coach didn’t play him in the right position. I wish I had just enjoyed the experience more.”

If you have a child involved in youth sports, it’s not too late for you. Enjoy it while you can. It will end all too soon.

There was a phrase I heard in my youth that has stuck with me: “These are the Good Old Days.” Truly, the days when you get to watch your child play sports are golden. If you are still in them, treasure each one of them. Don’t let them slip by while you focus on things that will seem totally inconsequential in later years.

Because the youth sports experience is so intense, we tend to forget how short it is, and what a small amount of time that parents and children get to spend together over the course of our lives.

These are the good old days. Enjoy them.

Download this excerpt below.

To purchase the entire Positive Sports Parenting book, and to learn more about other PCA books, click here.

These books are used in PCA’s live workshops. To learn more about our interactive parent workshops, click here.