[Stan]

Rainmaker, I agree, the article is a bit simplistic. However, I think it is applicable to the conversation. Excerpts of the article in red.

Originally Posted by rainmaker

I don't know, Stan. That's pretty simplistic -- the article, I mean. But whether or not I agree on that subject, I'm not sure it's relevant to the topic of parents who scream at refs.

Kids are having a hard time even playing neighborhood pick-up games because they've never done it, observes Barbara Carlson, president and cofounder of Putting Families First. "They've been told by their coaches where on the field to stand, told by their parents what color socks to wear, told by the referees who's won and what's fair. Kids are losing leadership skills."

I know this thread was started in jest, but it is a serious issue, and one that affects more and more people. I think the main problem is that parents believe that "anything worth doing is worth being perfect at" and they really can't see that a healthy childhood includes a lot of mediocre performance.

Parents need to abandon the idea of perfection and give up some of the invasive control they've maintained over their children. The goal of parenting, Portmann reminds, is to raise an independent human being. Sooner or later, he says, most kids will be forced to confront their own mediocrity.

These are the same parents who scream at teachers for giving the kids B's instead of A's, and then scream at the kids for "slacking off."

American parents today expect their children to be perfect—the smartest, fastest, most charming people in the universe..

It's okay for kids to "slack off" and go to community college, and live in two-room apartments, and take the bus.

—it's possible to get a meaningful education almost anywhere. Further, argues historian Stearns, there are ample openings for students at an array of colleges. "We have a competitive frenzy that frankly involves parents more than it involves kids themselves,"

There's no shame in not being Michael Jordan, or Lisa Leslie.