Whats wrong with some of these parents??!!!

[QuadJunkies]

Seems like EVERY TIME we go to our local MX track, you see this one guy who is CONSTANTLY yelling at his Son what a failure he is, needs to ride better,push yourself.. HARDER.. HARDER... HARDER!!!!! The Dad is NEVER happy with his sons race, I feel sooo bad for that boy! :( Sometimes I want to just walk up and give him a hug and say he done very good! I have seen him ride and hes good, he takes decent placings, I just hate when I see parents do this to kids, maybe he should lay down the beer can too!!! You can just see the look of emptiness ,failure, dissapotment and prol. now feels racing is a chore... :ermm: :mad:
Im sure you have seen this too, but I have decicded the next race I am going up to the kid in front of his Dad and giving him a handshake on a good race ;) And maybe Dad a good kick in the @$$!!! :o

Its one thing to want to go out and teach/coach your kid how to win races, but IMO this is only going to cause this kid to someday when hes old enough to walk away completly from the sport. .....

[jesshamner]

You're exactly right! When it becomes a chore, the kid will lose interest in it, most likely. It's not just our sport though. In high school I played 4 different sports and I saw it in every one. The father was trying to live out his glory through his kid. Actually, my cousin and uncle are like that. My cousin played baseball, basketball and football when he was in middle school. Now he only plays baseball but thats b/c he is freakin awesome. He quit basketball and football. I'm not sure how good he was at basketball but he was a good football player but he was never good enough in his father's eyes.

At races, I feel like doing the same thing you are talking about. The kid would overwhelmed with joy if some good words were said after a race. It might not be a good idea to say something to the father though. People are pretty sensative about that stuff and it could get ugly.

[Rocketman80]

I wouldn't have a problem at all telling the father what he's doing and that he's ruining his kid. Actually I wouldn't want my kid seeing it. He's embarassing himself, his child and anyone around him. So telling the Dad to knock it off would be in order or at least have the race director/track owner say something to the guy. It is totally the wrong message being sent to his kid. And booze at the track or in the pits shouldn't be tolerated. I would say definitely go congradulate the child and tell him he did awesome. Infact I would tell the dad that maybe if he did a better job setting up the bike his kid might have won because his son is a great rider. Take a couple of big dudes with ya and walk over and give'em a piece of your mind. I think it would be fair and in defense of the kid. We see it from time to time at the track and any Dad standing there with beer is a idiot and not there for the right reason. If the dad knows so much about how to win, maybe he should put himself out on the track and see how he does. Well maybe not if he's drunk. LOL Go kick'em in the @$$.

[QuadJunkies]

Originally posted by jesshamner
You're exactly right! When it becomes a chore, the kid will lose interest in it, most likely. It's not just our sport though. In high school I played 4 different sports and I saw it in every one. The father was trying to live out his glory through his kid. Actually, my cousin and uncle are like that. My cousin played baseball, basketball and football when he was in middle school. Now he only plays baseball but thats b/c he is freakin awesome. He quit basketball and football. I'm not sure how good he was at basketball but he was a good football player but he was never good enough in his father's eyes.

At races, I feel like doing the same thing you are talking about. The kid would overwhelmed with joy if some good words were said after a race. It might not be a good idea to say something to the father though. People are pretty sensative about that stuff and it could get ugly. Oh, I wouldnt say anything to the Father.. I would just walk up and give him a good kick in the butt with my boot!! :eek: :p JK..
well... Sorta..
Im sure there are alot of parents out there "living in the eyes of there kids" but you mark my words... That kids will get some Kudos at the track next time I see him ;)

[QuadJunkies]

Originally posted by Rocketman80
I wouldn't have a problem at all telling the father what he's doing and that he's ruining his kid. Actually I wouldn't want my kid seeing it. He's embarassing himself, his child and anyone around him. So telling the Dad to knock it off would be in order or at least have the race director/track owner say something to the guy. It is totally the wrong message being sent to his kid. And booze at the track or in the pits shouldn't be tolerated. I would say definitely go congradulate the child and tell him he did awesome. Infact I would tell the dad that maybe if he did a better job setting up the bike his kid might have won because his son is a great rider. Take a couple of big dudes with ya and walk over and give'em a piece of your mind. I think it would be fair and in defense of the kid. We see it from time to time at the track and any Dad standing there with beer is a idiot and not there for the right reason. If the dad knows so much about how to win, maybe he should put himself out on the track and see how he does. Well maybe not if he's drunk. LOL Go kick'em in the @$$.

LOL!!! I wouldnt have a problem telling the Dad off, but unfortunately I think the Dad would end up taking it out on his Son , Ive seen stuff like that backfire before. If I knew of a constructive way to say it I would, but this guy I dont see that happening:ermm:

Most all the riders in our group cant stand this guy either, I just feel bad for the kid

[Pappy]

i may yell, but its for encouragement. cody and i use hand signals to relay info.


putting that type of pressure as described above happens in every sport....

[QuadJunkies]

Originally posted by jesshamner
. It might not be a good idea to say something to the father though. People are pretty sensative about that stuff and it could get ugly.

Sorry about the edit, it was supposed to be a quote...!!! MY BAD!!!Thats TWICE ive done that this week! :mad:


I was just going to say especially to a guy whos been drinking, they are ULTRA sensitive people to deal with

[QuadJunkies]

Originally posted by Pappy
i may yell, but its for encouragement. cody and i use hand signals to relay info.


putting that type of pressure as described above happens in every sport.... No, this guy literally calls his kid names and puts him down... I hate people like that :mad: that REALLY boosts a kids self esteem.. :ermm:

[jesshamner]

Originally posted by QuadJunkies
Sorry about the edit, it was supposed to be a quote...!!! MY BAD!!!Thats TWICE ive done that this week! :mad:


I was just going to say especially to a guy whos been drinking, they are ULTRA sensitive people to deal with


LOL...I didn't even notice until you said something. I fixed it. You should hand over your mod status to me. :) j/k

[Pappy]

Originally posted by QuadJunkies
No, this guy literally calls his kid names and puts him down... I hate people like that :mad: that REALLY boosts a kids self esteem.. :ermm:

personally i would walk up and ask him if it hurt when they removed common sense from his brain:devil: ofcourse i dont mind brawling either:p

[jdwxv3]

Originally posted by QuadJunkies
Seems like EVERY TIME we go to our local MX track, you see this one guy who is CONSTANTLY yelling at his Son what a failure he is, needs to ride better,push yourself.. HARDER.. HARDER... HARDER!!!!! The Dad is NEVER happy with his sons race, I feel sooo bad for that boy! :( Sometimes I want to just walk up and give him a hug and say he done very good! I have seen him ride and hes good, he takes decent placings, I just hate when I see parents do this to kids, maybe he should lay down the beer can too!!! You can just see the look of emptiness ,failure, dissapotment and prol. now feels racing is a chore... :ermm: :mad:
Im sure you have seen this too, but I have decicded the next race I am going up to the kid in front of his Dad and giving him a handshake on a good race ;) And maybe Dad a good kick in the @$$!!! :o

Its one thing to want to go out and teach/coach your kid how to win races, but IMO this is only going to cause this kid to someday when hes old enough to walk away completly from the sport. .....

I have an idea, offer your quad to the dad to race to see if he can do any better. Tell him you will be his coach and start screaming at him like a mad man to show him how it feels to be humiliated in public. I coach wrestling and when we have parents who are like that I try to get them in the wrestling room to help coach and I use them as my "test dummy" and toss them around and make the kids laugh. Sometimes they get mad sometimes they get humbled. Give it a shot.

[Johnny & Monica]

We use to go to a MX track when Chance raced bikes that had a Dad that was such a d*** that I did tell him about it and I had a pack of teenagers that were backing me. The guys kid was racing awesome took a hard fall got back up passed the pack again had another hard crash that popped the seat off his bike. His Dad went running over to him (we thought to help) and starting screaming all kinds of foul mouthed garbage then pushed the kid out of the way and then threw the seat at him while he was walking away. I usually mind my own business but I had enough that day. It's ridiculous. Sure we give our kids some ideas that will help out but it's their race and they know what they need to do. Too much pressure on those poor kids. Just think how they get treated at home if their Dad will act like that in public.

[Spike99]

.

Wether it be hockey, soccor or mini-quad racing, "some parents" will yell negative things at their kid. I've seen it over and over and year after year. It's sad - very sad to see. Sad to see parents degrade their own kid infront of others, sad to see the parent trying to live their lives through the eyes of their kids and sad to see such inappropriate behavior from 30+ year olds. From adults who know that this bahavior isn't right.

What to do about it??? Would the "could you do better??" question to those parents work? If so, put them up to the challenge!!! Would the suttle question of "is it proper for a parent to act like that??" question make them realize what they are doing? Or, accidentally doing in many cases.. When their kid says, "I don't want to race this year - sell the mini now!!!" make them realize the mistake they did?? Not too sure what the proper immediation correction response should be.

I do know one thing.... If a parent yells negative things at their kid during the day (and repeated many times over during a race) and at night they kiss their kid "good night" and also say, "I love you" at the same time, I wonder what their kid is really thinking??? Bet it's one of those "BS - I seen your true side" thoughts.

The next time you see a parent yelling "negative support" at their kid, ask them if they also say "I love you!!!" at their kid's next bed time. Perhaps this is the most powerful immediate corrective action we can tell "some of those parents".

Something to think of!!!!

.

[Rocketman80]

I'm usually pretty quiet when it comes to all of this but it's just wrong what the guy is doing. I think it would be appropriate for the race director or track owner to say something to the guy. If he's really that big of a dork then he should have some counseling on how to treat your child. And I see other people talking about yelling at your kid or giving them hand signals while they are racing and that is probably the first lesson that we learned in racing. So I will only say this once giving away some of the best race advice I can give to Dads. It's okay to get your child started and get them to the starting line, but once they are there the best thing you can do for your child is stand back and let them race without being distracted by looking at Dad swinging his arms or yelling to him. I use to do those same things and realized that every time my child was watching me, he wasn't watching the track. So guess what happens next, shortly after your arm swinging and your child looking, they will get passed. And it took alot of restraint on my part not to do it, but once I did stop doing it, I saw an improvement in my child's racing. We've been racing for five years now with my son having over 300 hundred races under his belt. Rest assured that your child is going to go as fast as he can and if you do a track walk before the race and pick out lines, they will learn to run the good lines and protect the inside. I've seen my son put pressure on other kids by staying right on them and soon as Dad comes out swinging his arms it's game over, he makes the pass. It's almost a given. So there now you've got one of our race secrets, I hope all the Dads who have kids out there understand that your help comes before and after the race, not during. Stand back and let your kid show you what he can do without being two feet from the track distracting them. There are other things that help with racing like allowing your child to stage themselves and learn all the ropes about being in the pits. We went thru a struggle with my son wanting to speed in the pits after a race, so it ended up in a sit down session about how he has to slow it down and just go easy back to the trailer. Put responsibility in your childs hands. Make them put their own gas in their tank. Make them check their own air filter and spark plug. Show'em how to do it and tell'em it's now their job. So they understand that racing isn't just about jumping on the machine and driving fast. It will help them mature into a great racer understanding what it takes to do it all. It will also make them feel like they are doing more and give them confidence. It helped my son with giving me feedback about how his machine was running, he wanted to learn more about how the motor works and we just started working on what a good sounding engine sounds like and what a bad one sounds like. Then we look for the problems. I say UH.. What do you think it could be? Right at this point his answer to everything is change the spark plug....LOL See ya's at the track. 1st place Ashtabula TT National 2005

[the Z Man]

I saw this guy in the Iowa Series, I think his name was Johnny Kellison, he was so mean, I felt sorry for the people with him,lol

[Johnny & Monica]

Zman LOL:p :blah:

[bigdaddy]

What is it with some people? When Tyler used to play soccer there was parents and coaches the same way. I heard enough once and had a little talk with one coach. One good thing about the Iowa series is that most all of the parents are great and all help out and cheer all the kids on. I tell Tyler before every race to be safe and have fun. Thats really what the kids racing is all about. :D

[QuadJunkies]

Originally posted by Rocketman80
ds. Make them put their own gas in their tank. Make them check their own air filter and spark plug. Show'em how to do it and tell'em it's now their job.

Kids LOVE to help!! It teaches them something and also makes them feel important, my Son LOVES wrenching with dad(or at least TRYING to :p ) and Sis likes to help change the tires

you posted some good advice there ;)

[Arctic Cat Dad]

These are the little kids I make sure I go tell them in front of there dads and give them a big HIGH 5 ! I also would be one of them to tell the dad. Go set him straight!


Yow will see us yelling at him. But this is the way he likes it. He get's fired up! He even yells back. This is our fuel to keep fire going.

[atvracinextra]

Sounds like i might need to send my husband to Iowa because he has no problem confronting out of control parents. His last one was at a national were he was on the track taking pictures and a 50 parent decides his kid was not going fast enough so he throws a water bottle at him while he is racing and hits him right in the back, thank god he had on a chest protector. My husband walks right up to the dad and ask "did you just do what I think you did" the dads says "yeah i sure did he's my kid". My husband walks away and goes directly to the track offical and they have a long talk with the dad and i bet he want be throwing any more bottles.

[Rocketman80]

ATVRacinExtra is right. That's exactly how you handle it. Go right to the race director/track owner/circuit president. Whoever is in charge of the event and put it in their hands. I have seen a local district split apart because of these types of things happening at the track. Always keep in mind that sportsmanship and how you conduct yourself at the track defines who you are within the racing community. No one will ever sponsor someone who can't act like a professional at the track. Who would want their product being promoted by a jerk. It reflects poorly on the entire race circuit when it is allowed to continue. So take it to the person in charge and let them handle it. If it keeps happening, the guy should be tossed. It's real simple, this is suppose to be fun for the kids. So make it fun, don't take it so seriously, being light hearted will help everyone. We don't win every race and honestly we just have fun being around everyone. The kids are all winners no matter what place they take. It takes a lot of courage for a little kid to get out there on a track infront of everyone, so just being there speaks volumes for the kids. If we as parents show good sportsmanship and congradulate everyone, our kids will learn from it and it will keep this sport fun for everyone. The people putting pressure on their kids won't last long. The kid will lose interest and it will hurt his performance. These Dads that do this are the ones who need to be hollared at. If they had done a better job getting their kids machine ready for the race, their child might have won. There is something to be said for the Dads who are in the pits working on their kids machines. Cleaning clutches, changing gears, checking air pressure, changing jets. Those are the parents who are doing what it takes to give their child a chance to win. The guy standing there with a beer in his hand........well it speaks for itself.

[Spike99]

.

"... he throws a water bottle at him while he is racing and hits him right in the back... "

Is that parent for real? What if that action surprised the racer so much that it caused him to "wipe out" and get killed? Sounds like that dad needs to be taken behind the barn and "put out of his misery". If you know what I mean!!!!

.

[QuadJunkies]

Originally posted by atvracinextra
Sounds like i might need to send my husband to Iowa because he has no problem confronting out of control parents. His last one was at a national were he was on the track taking pictures and a 50 parent decides his kid was not going fast enough so he throws a water bottle at him while he is racing and hits him right in the back, thank god he had on a chest protector. My husband walks right up to the dad and ask "did you just do what I think you did" the dads says "yeah i sure did he's my kid". My husband walks away and goes directly to the track offical and they have a long talk with the dad and i bet he want be throwing any more bottles. PROPS to your Husband!! :macho Oh, I would have been sooo ticked off has I seen that, the Dad would be wearing that bottle where the sun dont shine! :grr: :o

[jesshamner]

Throwing a bottle of water definitely crosses the line! I'm usually laid back about stuff like that but seriously. Who throws water bottles at their kids? These people need help. Had I been there, I would have been the first person to give that help.:macho

[400exdad]

It typically brings out the worst in people..... especially parents and grown-ups.

[QuadJunkies]

Talked to my ole man about it today atthe track, apparently he already threatened to put the smack down on the guy if he didnt chill out :eek: :macho I dunno how long it will last, but his additude was alot more reserved this wk end .... :o

[wilkin250r]

Ok, I agree with the general premise that parents should be yelling at their kids, but let's present the flip side of the coin.

Are you comfortable with somebody else telling you how to raise your children? How would you feel if somebody confronted you, and said that you're putting your child in danger by allowing them to ride ATVs at all, and that you're a horrible parent because of it? We all know that some people hold this point of view.

I say, give the kid a high-five, whether in front of his dad or not. The kid could use a bit of encouragement. But do NOT confront the dad unless he crosses the line.

If he wants to yell and scream at his kid, that's his choice. It's not cool, I don't like it, but you have to give him room to raise his own child in whatever manner he feels. If he throws a water bottle, that presents a real physical danger to his kid, as well as other racers on the track, and so having the track manager confront him is certainly appropriate.

I don't like the yelling, but I can't tell the guy how to raise his own kid.

[QuadJunkies]

Originally posted by wilkin250r
Ok, I agree with the general premise that parents should be yelling at their kids, but let's present the flip side of the coin.

Are you comfortable with somebody else telling you how to raise your children? How would you feel if somebody confronted you, and said that you're putting your child in danger by allowing them to ride ATVs at all, and that you're a horrible parent because of it? We all know that some people hold this point of view.

I say, give the kid a high-five, whether in front of his dad or not. The kid could use a bit of encouragement. But do NOT confront the dad unless he crosses the line.

If he wants to yell and scream at his kid, that's his choice. It's not cool, I don't like it, but you have to give him room to raise his own child in whatever manner he feels. If he throws a water bottle, that presents a real physical danger to his kid, as well as other racers on the track, and so having the track manager confront him is certainly appropriate.

I don't like the yelling, but I can't tell the guy how to raise his own kid. he did cross the line IMO and was very demeaning. Im not perfect, I yell at my kids when they haveit coming to them, I think we all do at some point, but being drunk,demeaning, and physical was grounds for an old fashioned @$$ kickin, ,aybe some of what my ole man said to the guy sunk in and he just needed a reality check :)

I would not like someone telling me how to raise my kids, but in this situation I think a reality check was in order. If it happens again, Ill be going to the Road Captain

[Evana13]

I agree with everything you guys have sead. My son loves to cheer the peewees on at the races anlong with everybody else on the track. It seems that the younger kids love to hear the praise of the older racers.