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Parents play an important role in the way they encourage their kids to participate in games.

We tell our kids that we will always be their biggest fans, as we cheer them on from the sidelines.

Moms and Dads are not only their child’s greatest fans but their first life coaches and educators.

Parents are the first to teach kids the fundamentals of sports such as trust, teamwork, and sportsmanship. These fundamentals are not produced by merely speaking to them about it but by leading through example.

Teamwork and sportsmanship are not reserved for the athletes on the field.

Parents on the sidelines should demonstrate respect and sportsmanship while cheering on their favorite team. By being a courteous spectator, you’re being a great fan and better example to the rest of the team.

Gameday is an exciting event for parents, but it is important to remember this is their kids’ time to shine. Here are some tips for the whole family to support their team respectfully:

Cheer On Without Being Disruptive

Gameday is exciting, and every parent wants to be the loudest voice in the stands. Trying to compete to be heard can be distracting to those around you and may also be calling negative attention to your athlete as well.

Kids like to know they have support in the stands and are thrilled to hear their name and feel they have personal cheerleaders.

Celebrating a goal or a good pass is encouraging and a positive way of supporting your child. Don’t forget other parents are there with you too!

Encourage the Whole Team. Don’t Make it About Yourself or Your Kid.

Calling too much attention to your athlete may overwhelm or embarrass them. Even if you feel it is encouraging, they may take it otherwise.

Remember that your child participates on a team, and feels good when the whole team is doing well.  Being a voice of support for every kid on the team is a great way to be a positive fan.

The game is about everyone having fun and not about your kid winning or losing!

Let Coaches Do Their Job

Parents may be their child’s first coach, but they will not be the only ones.

Sports Coaches ensure safe, responsible and fair gameplay for each of their athletes. They too act as an educator in each student’s lives.

Show Support, Don’t Coach

Parents may think they know best for their kid, but coaches know the game inside and out.

Their role as a sports educator is to teach proper technique, sportsmanship, safety, and being a team player.

Letting coaches do their job is an important display of trust in part of the parent’s. They too know what is best for their students and team.

Shouting instructions from the sidelines is disrespectful to your child and their coach.

Coaches think hard about strategy and gameplay beforehand and need as much support from the stands as the team gets. Stand by the coach and their calls. Do not try and fight them or accuse them of bad decisions.

Remain a cheering voice in the stands as a team fan and not a "backseat driver," on the field sidelines.

Be a Positive Voice in the Stands

Remember game day is not all about winning. Everyone should be having fun and encouraging a display of sportsmanship. Even if your athlete gets upset and loses sight of this, you should keep your spirits up.

Stay positive, steering clear of trash talk and being an encouraging voice.

Celebrate Both Teams, Don’t Put Anyone Down

Adults sometimes may not realize the power of their voice.

Like any fan, parents can get carried away with the emotions of excitement and competition. It is essential to keep in mind that kids play to have fun and practice sportsmanship.

Being the first voice to congratulate the opposing team or cheer a call made by the coach will encourage kids to do the same.

Tell Them You Enjoy the Game, Don’t Debrief Them in the Car.

Remain a positive voice, even when a tough game is lost. Your child may already feel insecure about the outcome and in need of a guiding voice.

Talk about the good found throughout the game. Affirm that your child played well. Instead of being a game critic, be supportive as they process the failure.

Let them talk out how they believe their game went, rather than your own thoughts about the game action.

It may be tempting to play the role of the spectator, but be aware of what they need most, your support.

There are many ways to be a good sport without being on the field. Being a great spectator means being a respectful fan.

You don’t need to be the loudest voice in the stands to let your athlete know you are their biggest supporter.

Every parent knows how hectic it can be trying to get out of the door on time with all of the necessary supplies.

If your children are involved with sports, then you know this struggle all too well.

There is nothing more frustrating than getting to a game two hours away and hearing “Mom, where are my cleats?”

As a parent, it's easy to get sucked into the role of doing everything for everyone.

To help make your life easier, why not put your kid in charge of their own supplies?

Benefits

By teaching your children to be responsible for their own uniform and equipment, when it comes to sports you are teaching them basic and essential life skills.

You are preparing your children to be self-sufficient, which is something that many seem to not learn until their college years. This is a skill that will serve them throughout their life and teaches them that there are consequences to their actions.

If they prepare early, then there is little chance that they will forget essential equipment and gear such as their cleats or socks.

If they wait until the last minute, they will likely struggle and forget something. Your child may experience the feeling of being rushed which teaches them why preparation is essential.

Furthermore, it guides them to think ahead.

It may start with sports equipment, but it quickly translates into preparing for school and vacations. Planning out their school work, sports, and play is very rewarding and gives them a sense of freedom. Scheduling time for work, chores, and social events are things that even adults struggle to balance.

Checklist

As with any other new responsibility, it can take a while for your child to get used to being responsible for their own gear.

In the beginning, it may be helpful, especially for younger ones, you assist and guide them with packing everything up so they can see how to do it.

When going through the steps sit down and make a checklist of what items they need for practices and games.

By writing out a list together, they can feel as though they have a say in it and control of the situation, which will make it a much smoother transition.

Post the list on the refrigerator door or wherever else you feel may be helpful and let them start packing on their own.

Hopefully, they will remember to check their own list, but it is never a bad idea to go over it after they say they are ready to go.

Organization Check

This is one that you have probably heard for school. Teachers will often suggest going through binders and backpacks every couple weeks to make sure that nothing is lost and to get rid of what is unnecessary.

This is true for sports as well and will certainly help keep things smelling better.

Every week go through the sports bag with your kid and take out any of the empty water bottles and balled up socks that have gotten stuck in the bottom.

Going through sports bags frequently means that it is likely to become a habit and your child can apply it to their own for school, and maybe even to clean their room.

A Spot for Everything

If your child starts to get frustrated with having to do everything on their own, that’s okay.

New responsibilities are always hard, but there are some ways to make this easier.

One of them is to have an organized system.

Most parents want this in their home anyway, everything has its place, and that’s where it should stay, but having everyone participate in putting things where they belong is far from easy.

Having your kid pack their own equipment is an excellent way to get this started because if there cleats and ball and water bottle are always in the same place, then packing will be much more comfortable and less frustrating.

Help your child find the most logical and convenient places for their equipment and remind them for the first few weeks to keep putting things back when they are not being used.

Having responsibilities as a child is never as hard as people make it sound when a child knows what their job is and how to do it.

When given the tools to do it right, they can build the skills that they need for a life full of responsibilities.

This will help you as their parent, and help them prepare for a prosperous future.

Starting with merely packing their own equipment for sports games and practices will quickly turn into far more.

Help your child by walking them through the steps until they can do them independently so that one day they can take care of themselves and you can help with other important life aspects.

5 on the go healthy snacks for your young athletes

Every person young or old, athletic or not, understands the importance of eating healthy. But when you have teenage athletes it can be hard to both keep them full and healthy. Now there is nothing wrong with pizza bites for snacks every now and again, but when they want four or five snacks a day that can be a bit much. But it is hard to find easy and healthy snacks that will fill them up. Here are a few ideas that are not only good for them but taste good too.

Fruit

That’s a bit of a given really, but you can never go wrong with apples and bananas, after all “an apple a day keeps the doctor away”. But keeping a variety of fresh fruit out for your kids can be an easy way for them to eat better. A large portion of the time we all eat snacks because we are bored more than we are hungry, and chips are one of the most convenient things to grab. But an orange sitting out on the counter is much more convenient, healthy, and even the same color as most of those favorite processed foods. These also do not need to be boring snacks. There are always fun ways to spice it up. And apple or even celery with peanut butter is delicious and gets some protein in the mix as well. Or toss some frozen berries in the blender for a refreshing and filling drink. Whether you eat them plain or add some extra flavor, fruit always makes for a delicious and healthy snack.

Trail Mix

Store bought or homemade, does it really matter? Trail mix is a delicious option for when you are craving sweet, or salt, or anything for that matter. The great thing about trail mix is that it is incredibly easy to make at home with all your favorite mix-ins. The options are endless, and everything is replaceable. Don’t like nuts? That’s fine replace it with some Cheerios or pretzels. Or maybe you just prefer walnuts over your regular almonds or peanuts. Or maybe you want to be adventurous and through in some raisons or a couple extra M&Ms. That’s okay, your secret is safe with us. But whatever mix of ingredients you like you can put in a decorative bowl on the kitchen counter or keep in a Ziploc in the car or backpack as your emergency snack for when they just can’t seem to wait the extra 10 minutes for dinner.

Yogurt

Yogurt seems to come in and out of style as a favorite snack. On the downside it is hard to carry around for an exceeding amount of time without it going bad, and todays yogurts in America seem to have far more sugar in it than one might expect. But on the other side, it is delicious, far healthier than many other things that our young athletes eat and can be mixed with so many good things to enhance the flavor. Make some parfait and tell them that they can have some dessert before practice. Yogurt is one of the most underrated snacks for athletes. It is healthy and helps promote digestion and grow healthy bacteria. It provides your child with protein and calcium, which enhance performance.

Proteins Bars

The busy athletes’ best friend. Calorie dense, easily portable, and tastes like chocolate. We truly cannot ask for more. And thanks to a growing market we no longer are stuck with one or two choices. Now we have power bars, cliff bars, Kind bars, Nature Valley bars, Quest bars and so so many more. Despite different dietary needs and different preferences in taste and texture, anybody can enjoy some sort of protein bar. It may not be your top choice but when you are sitting on the tournament field complaining because there is not enough time to go get lunch between your first and second game, that bar hits the spot like no other.

Popcorn

You heard me. Popcorn is one of the healthiest things that we eat, that is before we drown it in butter and smother it in salt. But there are other healthy ways to makes this classic snack tasty and delicious. One that we strongly suggest is parmesan cheese. It adds enough flavor and some protein to your meal. This simple snack can fill you up without making you feel sick and is deceptively healthy for you. Who would have guessed that snacking at the movies is a healthy thing to do? But now you have the perfect excuse. This is an easy and healthy snack that your child can get excited about.

Eating healthy does not have to be hard and gross. People seem to think that eating healthy means eating nothing but peas, Brussel sprouts, and everything else that you argued with your parents about as a child. But that is not true. Want to go the extra mile? Go on Pinterest and come up with some clever ways to turn cauliflower into a baseball if that is what you want to do. But kids will tend to not fight the healthy move if they see you excited about eating the same foods. Plus, it can be healthy and still taste good despite what the television may say about it. Having healthy snacks may seem like a small step towards a healthier lifestyle, but it is more helpful than you would ever guess. We always count the calories in our big meals, but, forget that the snickers bar and hot pocket we had earlier also count.