This post is based on an article from acclaimed psychologist Carl Pickhardt.
As said many times before, youth sports are about developing good players and good, healthy people, and we know at times this might sound like a cliché or a vague phrase, so we want to be specific about how we can actually contribute to that purpose.
Carl Pickhardt, a psychologist and author of 15 parenting books, says on his article ’18 Things to Raise a More Confident Child‘ that ‘a kid who lacks confidence will be reluctant to try new or challenging things because they’re scared of failing or disappointing others. This can end up holding them back later in life and prevent them from having a successful career’
So Dr. Pickhardt offers this 18 tips:
- Appreciate effort no matter if they win or lose:
- Encourage practice to build competence
- Let them figure out problems by themselves
- Let them act their age
- Encourage curiosity
- Give them new challenges
- Avoid creating shortcuts or making exceptions for your child
- Never criticize their performance
- Treat mistakes as building blocks for learning
- Open the door to new experiences
- Teach them what you know how to do
- Don’t tell them when you’re worried about them
- Praise them when they deal with adversity
- Offer your help and support, but not too much of it
- Applaud their courage to try something new
- Celebrate the excitement of learning
- Don’t allow them to escape reality by spending all their time on the internet
- Be authoritative, but not too forceful or strict
In the webinar below, Dr. Kevin Currie-Knight interviews Dr. Pickhardt and deepens on the importance of self esteem and many of the concepts and tips presented above.
In the following article How Can I Help My Child Develop a Growth Mindset? we’ll also explore the long term consequences of this and we deepen on many of these factors.