Humility and being humble is an admirable trait and one that as parents we should be looking to foster and nurture in our children. Humble athletes often possess many of the characters and behaviours that we as parents want our children to gain, when we sign them up to participate in sport.
Qualities such as teamwork, confidence, sportsmanship and respect for all individuals involved in the sport are just some of the lessons we should be hoping that our children learn from their sporting experience.
The reason that this is important is that once the lights go down and once the match is over, our children go back into normal life taking with them some of the qualities that they have learnt to use them in all aspects of their life.
So what can you do as a parent to help with this process?
- Ensure you and your child are focussed on the process and not the outcome. Remember that you cannot always control the end result of a game but you can control aspects of the performance. Children who are process focussed rather than outcome focussed often deal with winning and losing with a far greater degree of maturity.
- Set a good example- humility must be consistently used at home.
- Try to ensure that your child believes in and is confident in what they are taking part in.
- Make sure they can apologise when necessary. This is a key component of humility.
- Teach them to say thank you. Two very small words with a big meaning.
- Value your child for being simply just that and not on what they achieve.
- Encourage and help them to be the very best that they can be.
- Win with grace and lose with dignity- many children will copy adult behaviour.
For some, all of the above may come naturally, but with the right level of adult support anything is possible with all children. Good luck!
