In a recent article, we discussed 5 ways that you can nurture the love of soccer to your kids. Here’s 3 more ways that most people don’t think about implementing so give your child that extra edge with these tips!
1: Associate Real Life Scenarios and Successes with a Soccer Skill
When your child does great at something, for example perseverance, validate them. Then, use that story or scenario, to connect their success and behaviour to say, running/training drills that they do at soccer practice. Show them how the skill build them and their character, therefore reflecting its fruits or results in the off field life.
2: Watch Soccer News and Read Soccer Updates Together
Most parents watch and read news on their own, often only sharing it with their peers unless its really big news. On the contrary, its the little things and moments that count the most. Build your child’s curiosity, both about soccer and other news, by sharing those updates with them as they occur. Whether news about soccer stars or an interesting project happening in a rural area, share it and use it to teach both soccer and life lessons.
3. Teach Soccer, Then Give Room for Practice & Mistakes
Helicopter parenting or training is not beneficial in soccer or life. Share your passion and lessons, but then always take a step back. Give your child some room to practice, to explore, and even to make mistakes. With the correct balance of challenge and support, they will self-learn, reflect and get back into the field to give the skill another try. That is what we want them doing in other life scenarios as well, and soccer is a great way to boost that.
4. Encourage Your Child to Give Back to Others
Use soccer to encourage your child to give back to others so that they learn to empathize with other people. You can get them teaching what they know to their younger sibling or peers. You can also find a community program where you can go volunteer or donate old soccer gear to or whichever other way you have to reach out to the community. Remember, even if there’s no soccer-skill connection in what you do, that’s perfectly okay. The goal is to teach your child some philanthropy skills, and connecting it to soccer is just an extra 🙂
