Coaching Your Child in a Team

There might be a hundred ways of handling this.

Here is what my experience has told me:

A - prepare your child for the season with a conversation. “I am the coach, you are my son/daughter, but also a player on the field. How would you like to work through this together?”

Do we talk about it in the car? Do we talk over breakfast? I want you to call me coach at practice? I will treat you like any other player?

1 - work with an assistant coach who can coach your child for you in the hard moments.

Seems like an easy answer, though this is a reality for most grassroots coaches. Working with your own child can be difficult, so having a coach to help your child develop or work through some difficult moments can be really helpful for both of you!

2 - No assistant, just you?

Use conversation A to set up your season. It can be REALLY rewarding, but will also be a fine situation to handle because you either coach your child too much, unconsciously, or not enough, purposefully, to avoid over coaching.

Be mindful. Use your partner or spouse to help you reflect on interactions with your child, but also ask them. All the time. How am I doing?

There is no one answer here. It’s a really interesting situation and the game only grows with parent coaches, so I’ll keep asking for ideas and input and keep updating this page!