[Myrtle]

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The ONLY time any coach should ever lay their hands on a player is when it is necessary to physically separate players when there is actual fighting going on. If anyone here thinks that there is ANY other legitimate justification for an adult to put his hands on a child, I’d like to hear it.

Bottom line for me given my experiences?

The real problem in most of these cases is the adults.

Kids will be kids, and they will do what is expected, that is….behave like kids.

It’s up to the adults to maintain a “big picture” perspective so that when these things happen they can be remediated in a manner that sets a good example for our children.

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Good post, Myrtle. I agree with you that the fact the coach is the parent of the quarterback is a very significant factor here. I think it explains his overreaction. He let the situation get personal instead of being completely professional and adult-like. Why the league does not see this is beyond me.

I have a good friend who played football throughout h.s. and who is really into sports. He takes the opposite view as you. He thinks kids are brats who need to be smacked and put in their place. He says that things are out of hand in youth sports today, that parents are too influential and that kids get away with smarting off. No amount of talking to him will sway him from this position. I told him I can't wait to see if he feels the same way when he has a kid in sports. He told me he will stand back and let the coach discipline his kid [img]/images/graemlins/tongue.gif[/img].

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Katy……

Depends on one’s definition of brats.

At what age are we talking of branding kids as ‘brats’?

Your friend is right when he says that parents are too influential and that kids get away with smarting off.

Ask him who lets them get away with it?

Your friend has some serious problems if he thinks that the solution is smacking a kid and putting them ‘in their place”.

Ask him if it worked with him?

If he ‘stands back and lets the coach discipline his child’ he can’t see the forest for the trees, because that’s not the issue at all.

The issue is that it is a parent’s responsibility to teach their children proper behavior, not to leave it to a coach (or a teacher, or the police, or the state).

Sports bring out the best and worst in most of us.