Parents Do not have to attend soccer games!!! UPDATE

[jrmasm]

I think a parent or guardian SHOULD have to stay with each kid. Those coaches are not your personal babysitter so that you can drop your kid off and go run errands then pop back by and pick them up.

If some accident or emergency were to happen with your kid you wouldn't even be there.

If you don't have the time to stay with your kid at soccer then don't enroll them next Spring. Or hire a babysitter to go sit with them at the soccer practice so you can do your shopping.

At what age would it be ok for children to attend practices without a parent?

 

[msjprincess]

I think a parent or guardian SHOULD have to stay with each kid. Those coaches are not your personal babysitter so that you can drop your kid off and go run errands then pop back by and pick them up.

If some accident or emergency were to happen with your kid you wouldn't even be there.

If you don't have the time to stay with your kid at soccer then don't enroll them next Spring. Or hire a babysitter to go sit with them at the soccer practice so you can do your shopping.

Just like at school or other activities where parents aren't allowed, like Boy Scouts or Girl Scouts.

 

[mdsoccermom]

I think a parent or guardian SHOULD have to stay with each kid. Those coaches are not your personal babysitter so that you can drop your kid off and go run errands then pop back by and pick them up.

If some accident or emergency were to happen with your kid you wouldn't even be there.

If you don't have the time to stay with your kid at soccer then don't enroll them next Spring. Or hire a babysitter to go sit with them at the soccer practice so you can do your shopping.

so, I guess when your kids are at school and you are not present, then the teachers arebabysitting? After all, an emergency might happen and you may not be there.

I am just floored at the number of parents who are afraid to let their kids out of their sight. And I most certainly am not going to hire a babysitter to stare at my 10 and 12 year olds at a practice where there are adults in charge - the coaches.

 

[mjkacmom]

I think a parent or guardian SHOULD have to stay with each kid. Those coaches are not your personal babysitter so that you can drop your kid off and go run errands then pop back by and pick them up.

If some accident or emergency were to happen with your kid you wouldn't even be there.

If you don't have the time to stay with your kid at soccer then don't enroll them next Spring. Or hire a babysitter to go sit with them at the soccer practice so you can do your shopping.

Geez, how old are your kids? Do you really think coaches of kids 8+ want the parents to stay? An emergency or accident can happen at school, at a friend's house, biking in the neighborhood, on a field trip, at girl scouts. Guess what - my kids aren't with me 24/7, and yes, they've gotten hurt, without me being there. They survived. Good Lord, lets give these kids a little freedom from their overbearing parents.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

Just like at school or other activities where parents aren't allowed, like Boy Scouts or Girl Scouts.

I don't think it is fair to compare a sporting activity to activities such as school or a troop.

I will also state that when my child is doing an activity that increases her risk of injury, I have to sign additional liability waivers. (The are in something like BSA/GSA--I sign TONS of forms for every stinking thing they do. Even if I am going to be physically present. I'd prefer that I didn't have to kill a tree if I was going to be there with my child, but liability and insurance issues prevent us from saving trees. )

 

[U2_rocks!]

geez, how old are your kids? Do you really think coaches of kids 8+ want the parents to stay? An emergency or accident can happen at school, at a friend's house, biking in the neighborhood, on a field trip, at girl scouts. Guess what - my kids aren't with me 24/7, and yes, they've gotten hurt, without me being there. They survived. Good lord, lets give these kids a little freedom from their overbearing parents.

ita!

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

Geez, how old are your kids? Do you really think coaches of kids 8+ want the parents to stay? An emergency or accident can happen at school, at a friend's house, biking in the neighborhood, on a field trip, at girl scouts. Guess what - my kids aren't with me 24/7, and yes, they've gotten hurt, without me being there. They survived. Good Lord, lets give these kids a little freedom from their overbearing parents.

It could be that with something like the OP--if the parents are showing up late and causing this rule--they may not have the luxury of having children under 12 fend for themselves until mom or dad show up.

At school--you can't be late to pick up your younger child. They will call the authorities. (Not talking 2 or 3 minutes late....when my child was in daycare--at 30 minutes, they call. For minutes 1-30 they charge an arm and a leg as a penalty for being late.)

You see this as a freedom issue--I see it as a liability issue and when it comes to issues of liability, organizations don't always have the freedom to provide your kids with a little freedom.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

I am just floored at the number of parents who are afraid to let their kids out of their sight.

I must have missed that somewhere. Do you have a quote where folks said this rule was because parents were afraid to keep kids out of their sight?

 

[golfgal]

I think a parent or guardian SHOULD have to stay with each kid. Those coaches are not your personal babysitter so that you can drop your kid off and go run errands then pop back by and pick them up.

If some accident or emergency were to happen with your kid you wouldn't even be there.

If you don't have the time to stay with your kid at soccer then don't enroll them next Spring. Or hire a babysitter to go sit with them at the soccer practice so you can do your shopping.

Actually, yes they are. They signed up to coach the team and along with that comes the responsibility for watching the kids during practice and games, it's just part of the job. I've coached sports at various levels for over 25 years and would NEVER expect the parents to stay and quite frankly I don't WANT the parents to stay. They are just a distraction for the kids that the kids don't need at every single practice.

 

[msjprincess]

I don't think it is fair to compare a sporting activity to activities such as school or a troop.

I will also state that when my child is doing an activity that increases her risk of injury, I have to sign additional liability waivers. (The are in something like BSA/GSA--I sign TONS of forms for every stinking thing they do. Even if I am going to be physically present. I'd prefer that I didn't have to kill a tree if I was going to be there with my child, but liability and insurance issues prevent us from saving trees. )

Why? The poster's point was that no one would be there if your child was hurt.

 

[mhsjax]

Money--or they don't want to lose a strong player.

Sometimes when parents don't abide by the rules of courtesy, it is easier to institute a rule across the board.

That way, they can keep their money, keep their players,and not single out any one family and cause.

I don't necessarily consider it a bad thing.

I have been inconvenienced by new rules created the following year because others were discourteous the previous year. But that is how the cookie crumbles.

IF it was all about common sense, people wouldn't be doing the very things that cause a rule to be created in the first place.

Well there you go, throwing logic and reason into the situation, with that last line.

 

[andymattmom]

I didn't read all 10 pages...but as the wife of a former soccer coach....when kids are older there really is no need for the parents to 'have' to stay BUT there needs to be something done IF PARENTS ARE LATE PICKING KID UP. Simple as if you are late...then your kid doesn't play in the next game. Sounds harsh yes but there needs to be a consequence. Talking to parents doesn't work in some cases....punishing kid for one game might not be fair but will surely stop the late parent. There were 2 children (and this was U12 or so) who were on our team. The one was our neighbors granddaughter...her mom was almost 30 minutes late and my hubby and sons waited and waited (as I had dinner waiting and waiting). Finally mom shows up...no apology. Husband told her when practice ended and she had to be on time. She was always late but not to that excess.

Second kid...friend of ours. Who lives LESS THAN A MILE FROM FIELD....late every time. And half hour or more...and we had kids who we took to practice who were late getting home too. It is NOT THE COACHES JOB TO TAKE YOUR KID HOME (although in this case my husband dropped off a couple of times).

If you can't pick your child up on time make arrangements with someone else. Don't expect the coach to be happy---they HAVE to wait till all kids are gone. So your selfishness in not picking kid up on time is bad. Coaches are volunteers and have lives outside coaching and aren't your personal babysitter for practice time.

Don't see this as PATERNO thing....
Let kids go to practice without mommy or daddy watching as they get older....
If you need to stay due to distance from house sit in car...far away and don't go sit in chair and watch. OR go park somewhere else and read.....

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

Actually, yes they are. They signed up to coach the team and along with that comes the responsibility for watching the kids during practice and games, it's just part of the job. I've coached sports at various levels for over 25 years and would NEVER expect the parents to stay and quite frankly I don't WANT the parents to stay. They are just a distraction for the kids that the kids don't need at every single practice.

I disagree for the very younger ages. It isn't fair to the coach to have to manage pre-schoolers who decide they are done playing and want to go and sulk or have to go potty or need their shoes tied for the 10,000th time.

I would be put off and likely not agree to coach if I had to manage anything beyond teaching the kids how to play a game. If the parents didn't stay, very little time would be spent PLAYING. It would be spent with pre-schooler management. That is unfair to the group of children whose parents have paid to have them learn a game and not take constant field trips as a group back and forth to the bathroom.

This happens EVERY practice and game.

YMMV.

(again--posting since folks are posting universal expectations without regard to age of the players)

 

[mhsjax]

Actually, yes they are. They signed up to coach the team and along with that comes the responsibility for watching the kids during practice and games, it's just part of the job. I've coached sports at various levels for over 25 years and would NEVER expect the parents to stay and quite frankly I don't WANT the parents to stay. They are just a distraction for the kids that the kids don't need at every single practice.

This is the exact reason we aren't "allowed" to stay for cheer practice and we aren't really wanted at soccer practice. He does allow up to stay, but has very strict rules about parent behavior, and we do behave. Halt the time, the parents aren't really anywhere near the practice and we are all just chatting and being social.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

Well there you go, throwing logic and reason into the situation, with that last line.

I find that it really does sum up nicely the reason for all these dang rules.

 

[undertheradar]

We have had the parent attendance rule in our soccer and basketball leagues for the last 5 years. At the start of the season, the parents set up a schedule and there are at least 2 parents at every practice. This is very important when you have opposite sex coaches and having parents scheduled to attend each practice satisfies the parent observation requirement.

 

[Mkrop]

As other threads (like the grandparents as babysitters thread) state...

When you have kids, these are things you consider. It isn't up to any organization to have to worry that you have chosen to have multilpe children and then plan their activities so that the multiple children are in all different quadrants of the town at the same time.While I am not a single mom, I have had roughly--2-3 years (can't calculate it at the moment) where my husband did not live with us. I'm one to not pull favors. So what I did was PLAN our activities accordingly. While my kids would have loved to learn to ice skate, it was simply too far away, too expensive, and it conflicted with other places we needed to be for the other things they liked to do.

It's funny how on one thread, we can't depend on grandma to bail us out--but here, we expect society to pander to our choices.

At least, that is how it comes across as me.

The "but I'm single, but I have 12 kids, but I do this or that" mentality is not the organizations responsibilty.

The OP-typically does not accept ANY place that demands him to observe his child because he is a free ranger. I would bet that he would have an issue that his 5 year old could not run around in Fantasyland at Disney by himself because he finds the 7yo rule too restrictive.

IT is far easier to call my opinion lacking in common sense than it is to see where I am coming from. For every excuse, there is a choice.

No, your child "doesn't have" to play football. He enjoys it and you may bend over backwards for it and LIKELY--if the league had such a rule and was unyielding, you would alter the rest of your children's schedules to accommodate it. That is what usually happens.

You cannot force an organization to accept more liability than they are willing to take.

You right I cant prevent a organization for making insane rules, if there is possiblilites to go elsewhere we would. I dont want my kids to have to be part of an organization that is not family friendly, who seem to be betrying an image that they only want only children from two parent households, so they can have a parent present. And even then both parents might have jobs that would make it impossible to be there, but for this group a nannie is not a acceptable alternative either

I don't think it is fair to compare a sporting activity to activities such as school or a troop.I will also state that when my child is doing an activity that increases her risk of injury, I have to sign additional liability waivers. (The are in something like BSA/GSA--I sign TONS of forms for every stinking thing they do. Even if I am going to be physically present. I'd prefer that I didn't have to kill a tree if I was going to be there with my child, but liability and insurance issues prevent us from saving trees. )

why not just as much activity and accidents can occur at school, that can occur on the field. The kids play in gym class, broken bones have occurred. We have had kids hurt in the recess yard. Boys were playing football, one ran off the grass to catch a pass, and ran right into a stop sign, ambulance had to be called, he wound up needing neck surgery.

The other day I watched a first grader tumble down the steps from our library bc his shoe was untied and either he or his classmate step on it. It was scary to watch, he could have really been hurt. I was the first person on the scene bc the teacher was at the head of the line and this boy was at the back of line, he wound up ok but his fall was bad and could have easily been more serious.

Kids could choke on food in the cafeteria etc, the possibilities are just as great in school as they are on the sports field.

And DH coached Tball on up and he never had issues with little kids and the bathroom. There were plenty of parents that stayed that could help out, and he also was never coaching by himself, he ALWAYS had an asst.

 

[jrmasm]

As much as I would object to this rule, I would have no problem with a rule that states that late parent must pay a fee to the coach. Something like $5/minute.

 

[mhsjax]

I disagree for the very younger ages. It isn't fair to the coach to have to manage pre-schoolers who decide they are done playing and want to go and sulk or have to go potty or need their shoes tied for the 10,000th time.

I would be put off and likely not agree to coach if I had to manage anything beyond teaching the kids how to play a game. If the parents didn't stay, very little time would be spent PLAYING. It would be spent with pre-schooler management. That is unfair to the group of children whose parents have paid to have them learn a game and not take constant field trips as a group back and forth to the bathroom.

This happens EVERY practice and game.

YMMV.

(again--posting since folks are posting universal expectations without regard to age of the players)

Problem is, the OP says U12. They don't need coaches for potty breaks at U12 age. Well some parents may feel they do, and boy wouldn't that be a fun topic here on the Dis.

 

[mdsoccermom]

I must have missed that somewhere. Do you have a quote where folks said this rule was because parents were afraid to keep kids out of their sight?

I never said that was the purpose of the rule. I'm referring to many people on this thread.