Poor Parental Behaviour

We are, each of us, all too familiar with the phenomenon of poor parental behaviour, such as shouting at referees, starting fights with other spectators, or treating a six-year-old like they're a professional athlete . Has this become the social norm at children’s sporting events? On occasion, do we lapse into this type of behaviour ourselves?

Children love to hear their parents cheer, when it is positive and approprite. This increases their enjoyment of the experience and makes them try harder. They do not, however, like to hear their parents shouting obscenities and verbally abusing them and everyone around them.

The Sport Moves Us report indicated, in fact, that 60% of Canadians think that poor parental behaviour is a critical and top threat to community-level sport.

As evidenced by continuous social media accounts of poor parental behaviour, clearly much more needs to be done if we are to shift the social norms in this area.

See Also...

Respect in Sport

E-learning courses to help people recognize and prevent abuse, bullying and harassment.

A Guide for Sport Parents (Sport Manitoba)

A reference guide for parents addressing common issues in youth sports and the roles and responsibilities of parents in dealing with these issues

A Sport Parent's Guide (CS4L)

The goal of this booklet is to help you understand the needs of young athletes and what may be done to promote their best interests in staying active and healthy