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Youth Sports Code of Conduct for Parents

youth sport parent code of conduct

Youth sports parent code of conduct

By Alex Flanagan

It is easy for even the most well intentioned parents to get caught up in their kid’s sports and engage in behavior that contradicts the objectives youth sports are supposed to embody.

An occasional slip is forgivable, but if this agrragious behavior has become part of your regular sports parenting repertoire it’s time to review our youth sports parent code of conduct and start taking these rules to heart.

Here are 13 “I will nots” that , if followed, are guaranteed to make you a better sports parent.

youth sports code of conduct for parents

  1. I will not yell at officials.
  2. I will not fight with another parent, official, or child.
  3. I will not ridicule anyone involved in a youth sporting event.
  4. I will not encourage violence with verbal or physical threats (i.e., take him down, knock his teeth out.)
  5. I will not curse.
  6. I will not bring my child to a game when they are obviously sick and contagious.
  7. I will not bring my child to a practice if they have stayed home from school sick.
  8. I will not blame anyone after a loss.
  9. I will not immediately run onto the field of play when my child gets hurt, but wait to see if it is serious enough to warrant my involvement.
  10. I will not yell advice to my child during a game.
  11. I will not detail my child’s play following a game unless they ask for my input.
  12. I will let my child’s interest level, not my own, drive their training.
  13. I will put God and spirituality, family, and homework before sports.

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Alex Flanagan co-founded I love to watch you play in 2015. She was flying home from an NFL work assignment when a learning specialist, who was sitting next to her, shared 5 reasons she shouldn’t feel guilty missing her son’s game. She shared their conversation on her own website alexflanagan.com and the response was so overwhelming it inspired her to create ILTWYP to help parents like herself navigate youth sports.