Parents, go home (or at least pretend to read a book)!

A few years ago, I wrote a column for USA Today Magazine entitled, Parents go home! I think it bears repeating.

When your child is at sports practice, or dance practice, or band practice…go home. Leave. Banish yourself. If you can’t because of the organization’s requirements that parents be present, or for purely practical reasons, then at least immerse yourself in reading, tearing yourself away from your book while feigning a vaguely surprised expression when your child presents him/herself, sports-gear in hand, to leave.

The common alternative is the shrieking, waving, thumbs-upping, video-recording parent on the sidelines for every practice. Kiddo, your performance is already on Facebook before you get to the drive-thru for dinner. This parent usually also feels obliged to provide all sorts of coaching advice and constructive criticism on the way home. This is bad for kids in all sorts of ways:

• Your child is learning to be a narcissist. You are sending the messages that everything little Jason or Jennifer does is spotlight-worthy. It’s not.
• You are nurturing the seeds of histrionic personality disorder: a character problem in which the person has to be the center of attention at all times. The child who repeatedly complains that you weren’t watching during some random moment of practice has internalized an expectation of being observed and admired at all times.
• Your child is not learning to appropriately transfer filial obedience and acceptance of guidance from you to other adults. This is part of the benefit of teachers and coaches: other people besides you (mom and dad) can be experts, guides, and sources of leadership.
• Your child is being taught, by your attention, to focus on performance rather than learning goals. Performance goals focus on enacting a flawless routine. It may mean a lot of intense focus, but a performance goal limits us because of the fear of making mistakes. Ultimately, performance goals lead to stagnation. This is because growth – learning – requires mistakes. Great guitarists, including the rich and famous, practice hours a day because they are always learning, pushing themselves, making mistakes, analyzing those mistakes, and integrating what they learn into new skill sets. The same principle applies to any skill. When you place unending pressure on your child by turning every practice session into a performance, you are creating an environment where doing the “safe” thing is best, even in practice, where failure ought to be risked without fear.

There is also the possibility that the obsessively watching parent is gratifying his/her needs through the child’s performance: a need to feel special, to achieve excellence, to be noticed. Our children do not exist to be flattering mirrors for our egos. They are unique and wonderful in their own right, not for our rights. The parent whose need to be recognized as great, via the reflected glow of a super-kid, needs to do some serious self-reflection of a different sort.

Dr. Lori Puterbaugh

© 2015

Posts are for information and entertainment purposes only and should not be construed to be therapeutic advice. If you are in need of mental health assistance, please contact a licensed professional in your area.