Nice work, but why do they always trot out the ‘Dad is living out his own dreams’ line? Is he really?

Then how do you explain screaming mums – did they dream of Premiership glory in their teens?

No, what the average sideline gob is actually doing is bringing adult soccer supporting habits into the youth soccer arena.

Adults are possessed and carried away by emotion and excitement at professional matches. But the total ‘lose yourself’ commitment to the result and the play doesn’t belong on a kid’s touchline.

The ‘living out your dreams’ story gives the bad Dad a get-out, he’s just a victim of his understabndable desire to see his son do well. But it’s not true.

What we have to do is expect parents to act like parents, not supporters.

You’re on a touchline, Ray, not a terrace.

Chris White

DC Writes: Good Point Chris, it is the supporters angle – if your son is getting bad marks in his maths tests you don’t shout at the maths teacher and call him an idiot. Behaving like a parent should cover sport as well as academic activities. It also doesn’t help when you listen to radio or TV commentators continually referring to bad decisions and the ref having a bad game.

Cheers

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