Mum and Dad are key to any sporting success a child might have. However, parents can also create the sporting nightmare known as the ‘prima donna’! A child with a good measure of sporting talent and skill, but without the character to access sporting success. There is nothing wrong with having sporting dreams for your child, nor is there anything wrong with pushing your child to success, but be warned. There are positive ways to do this and negative ways to do this. You see the world of sport (and business) is waking up to the nessassry truth that success is not built only on talent, but is mainly built on character.
The British and Irish Lions tour at the moment shows the emphasis the coaches put on the character of the squad and the players. Seeing the humble way in which James Haskell accepts his place in the squad shows a mindset which coaches and players clearly value and work on.
In the coming week’s I’ll be posting more about how to raise a child with the sporting character to be successful, but in the meantime let me ask you this question.
“The sporting teams you’ve been on, who did you enjoy playing with and who wound you up?
Did that have anything to do with their character?”

I have 20 years experience of working with families, helping parents raise children with the self-confidence and self-esteem to be a world changer is what I enjoy doing and turns out I am pretty good at.
I'm a dad of three ( all of whom can rap the first part of Ice Ice baby by Vanilla Ice), all three would say I am not a perfect dad but then who is… but I am a great at being me.
Sign up to my newsletter so that together we can to be courageously honest parents.