The following is an extract from a “Parental Guide” published by Scottish Swimming
Providing that your son/daughter is faced with realistic challenges, swimming should be fun at whatever level they participate. With appropriate parental support, your son/daughter will be able to develop his or her athletic potential in an enjoyable rather than stressful sports environment. You can provide your son/daughter with the opportunity to obtain a sense of achievement, competence and self worth.
Watching your son/daughter can be an emotionally draining experience. However, you may be taking their sport more seriously than they are. Of course most parents are trying to help. It is important that the young swimmer learns to see training and competition not as a threat but as an enjoyable CHALLENGE. It is very important that your son/daughter knows EFFORT as well as success will be acknowledged. An over-emphasis on winning by parents can result in fear of failure – with your love and respect being seen by your son/daughter as being conditional upon winning.
Much of the problem can be that parents are not sure how they can best help their son/daughter. The purpose in the points that follow, is to offer guidance to parents who want to learn to maximise their contribution while at the same time ensuring that their son/daughter enjoys their involvement in swimming.
Some questions to gauge your involvement in your son/daughter’s sport
i) Do you want your son/daughter to win events more than they do?
ii) Do you show your disappointment if they have a poor result?
iii) Do you feel that they can only enjoy swimming if they win?
iv) Do you conduct ‘post-mortems’ after races or training
v) Do you find yourself frequently wanting to interfere during training or competitions thinking that you could do better?
vi) Do you find yourself disliking their opponents?
If you answered ‘yes’ to any of the above then you may be putting unnecessary pressure on your son/daughter, which could adversely affect their enjoyment and involvement.
The Do’s and Don’ts, which follow, will help you maximise your contribution to your child’s sport whilst minimising any adverse effects.
How Can You Help? – Some Do’s
How Can You help? – Some Don’ts