What's sad is so many parents/people don't seem to realize the effect this has on the child. My senior year, the day after we won the state high school baseball championship, we played a charity baseball game. I went over the fence in center to make the catch. Unfortunately my right cleat got caught in the chain link fence and momentum carried my body over the top with the top bar at the knee. It shredded the ligaments and cartilage. As I was laying there in serious pain, my father came over and said, "I knew you would find a way to screw up your scholarship." It was the only game he ever watched me play in and I never forgave him for being that way.
When my daughter started bowling she got frustrated. She was a high school freshman and never had bowled before making the team. I never said a discouraging word and practicing with her is what got me into bowling. Her senior year she was team captain and won the conference championship. Whenever one of the kids missed a shot I would say encouraging things and many still today say how they wish their parents were as positive and supportive.
My father taught me how not to be as a parent and for that I have to be grateful.
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