Self Control
The model parent has tremendous self-control. You have mastery of your emotional response and maintain a smile and appreciation for the experiences. The risk is you appear cold, disconnected and even non-competitive at times.
The reality is you keep an eye on the very long range. If (actually when) you have an incident where an official makes a bad decision which “costs the game” keep things in perspective. The loss of a game, even a championship game, is an insignificant pain compared to mistakes and pain caused by poor life decisions like driving drunk or intoxicated.
Experiences
You are the model parent when you make sure sports are the best experiences possible. You make sure kids appreciate the facilities they have, equipment they bring and family to cheer them on. The consistent ability to work with others, as a team, reinforces collaboration and communication skills to form healthy relationships.
Sports experiences provide lessons that teach kids how to be effective adults. The more experiences in a low risk, high stress environment, the more they learn how to adapt to those same settings as adults.
Model for Others
Keep an eye out for other parents that need a little encouragement. They need a little mentoring along with a clear demonstration of the expectations in their own life.
Help them keep the competition in perspective by redirecting them to focus on relationships and improvement.
Another way to consider the impact is a perspective repeated by one of my favorite podcast hosts, John O’Sullivan and his Changing the Game Project. He ends his podcast with, “Remember, your influence is never neutral”. Obviously, parents have an influence on their own kids but they also have an influence on other kids and adults. I hope we get you focused on being a positive influence all the time.