I think the excessive cheering is bad too, kids can pretty easily tell whats’ up when you are not excessively cheering. I wish we had a league where the games were just informal, just show up and let the kids pick teams and we make sure they don’t fight.

Their performance should be encouraged and the parents should be cheerleaders not the next Mourinho or Mancini.

As for your example, “Johnny stop hitting Jimmy”, the coach should handle this. When you hand over your kids to the coach he becomes the authority for the duration of training. Parents need to stop interfering and let the coach, well you guessed it, coach.

If he cannot stop Johnny from hitting Jimmy then maybe the coach needs to be put under the microscope. As for criticism at home, that is your domain, you are the authority.

Once again thank you for your comments and feedback.

Confusion that leads to questions is a good thing. Kids Soccer needs more confusion if you ask me and certain problems and questions need addressing.

When it comes to soccer, you should avoid saying anything negative about how they play, but you have to insist that they be a good sport, try hard even on days that they don’t feel like it, be a good team mate etc. And that is sometimes critical.