Two problems--one solution!

With obesity a growing problem for Americans of all ages and parental sideline behavior often not quite not measuring up to PCA's standard of Honoring the Game, Mary Narayan of Vienna, Virginia has come up with a great solution: she multitasks!

The June 17, 2003 issue of The Washington Post quoted Mary: "Whenever my sons play soccer, I walk! I walk around the soccer field the whole time the game is being played. With three sons who've played a lot of soccer games, I think I have walked hundreds of miles since I started."

Over time she refined her approach: "It took me several games to figure out how to watch the game while walking a 14-to 16-minute mile, but now I actually see more of the game while walking than standing on the sidelines. On my first lap around the field, during the kids' warm-up, I check for any holes that could trip me up. I pick up and discard the bottles and orange skins (multi-tasking again by cleaning up the field). I can now walk the other laps secure that I can keep my eyes on the game."

Mary shared her vision, one that we at PCA can get behind: "I have a vision of all soccer parents taking up this health-enhancing activity...Instead of hurling threats at the ref, they could put their emotional energy into walking a little faster."

At PCA we often say that parents at youth sports events can be like mischievous toddlers. If you don't give a toddler something to keep busy with he or she is going to get into mischief. This is one reason we developed our "Positive Parent Pops" as a sweet reminder for YSO leaders to give to parents at games (although it doesn't help with the obesity issue!).

If more sports parents took Mary Narayan's advice, there'd likely be less parental mischief on the sidelines.

If you have other suggestions for ways to keep parents out of sideline mischief, e-mail them to us at connector@positivecoach.org. For information on PCA's "Positive Parent Pops" click on http://www.positivecoach.org/store/positivepops.html.