Just recently I watched a movie called "Trophy Kids." This movie is used to display how sometimes parents can be really overbearing on their kids when it comes to sports. It followed five different families throughout the whole documentary. All of the kids vary in age and what sport they play. There were two that stood out to me the most.
The first kid was Justus Moore. His dad was a former football player for Washington University. His dad is really strict on him the entire film. There are two parts that made him stand out to me. The first was when the person who was filming them asked what if Justus didn't want to play football. His dad plain out said that he's not allowed to quit and that he didn't know what was best for him. This dad is showing major hostility to his kid throughout the documentary. He was more verbally abusing the kid then physically but still it took a tool on Justus. He was trying to live up to his dad's expectations, but it's hard to do that when he's constantly being yelled at and criticized for everything he does.
The second kid is Derek Biale. He was a basketball player and a pretty good one from what was shown. His dad wasn't as bad as Justus Moore, but still pretty bad. His dad spent more money then some people will make in a lifetime to help his son succeed. He gets on him constantly for not doing something right. There's one part after a game that went in to overtime the whole time the dad is getting on him for missing one free throw. It gets to the point that Derek just gets up and walks away from his dad because he's tired of getting picked on.
The reason I brought this movie up isn't the simple fact that it's a great documentary. It's more to point out how messed up athletics can be for kids today. The two people I just talked about are good examples. Parents want to try and live their dreams through their kids and can sometimes push them past a limit where they end up hating their parents.
This should be a sign to any parent that thinks they can live their life through their kids. No kid wants to be overly criticized about a sport or what they are doing. All they want is the love and support of their mother or father. But if you push them they way these parents do or refuse to let them make decisions all you're doing is pushing them away or pushing them to do stuff that you don't want to happen.
In the end, don't try and live your life through someone else you love. If you really love them just support them in anyway possible because at the end that means more to them instead of you telling them if they are good or not.
