Parents Gone Wild

Recently I have gone to little league baseball games to watch my fiance umpire. At each game I have sat through, I have been tempted to bring a video camera to tape the parents in the stands. These parents are yelling at their kids while they are up to bat, arguing with the coaches to put in a new pitcher and screaming at the umpire to make better calls. I am not trying to say that excitement is not allowed at the field ever but these little 9 and 10 year old kids are put under so much pressure to perform like professionals. Parents are sitting beside the dug outs near the plate just waiting to give a quick few pointers to their kids on how to bat. At each pitch the parents are yelling at the child on how to adjust and what they should do better next swing. These types of comments are not the same as "Good Eye Johnny", they are remarks with an underlying tone for the kid to do better next time or else. Parents take out almost all of the fun for these kids by pressuring them to perform a certain way. If parents were video-taped and shown the way they behave, would they see that they are yelling at 9 and 10 year old kids to play as if they were 25 years old with 15 years of experience? Would they see the look in their kids eyes that explains how much pressure they are under or are do they really only have an agenda for themselves?

J. Zeeb
005032610
Kin 332 : T/Th 9:30-10:45