(Warning–Hard content to confront–KSH).
I’m not writing this article for my father. I’m writing it for the people in the parking lot.
Yes, if you say something, you may ruin the relationship you have with that person. You may get embarrassed in front of the other hockey parents. You may have to go through the awkwardness of filing a police report.
I can understand why a lot of people worry, “But what if I’m wrong?”
If you are wrong, that’s the absolute best case scenario. The alternative is that child is a prisoner in his own home. What you’re seeing in the parking lot or outside the locker room ”” whether it’s a kid getting grabbed and screamed at, or shoved up against a car ”” could just be the tip of the iceberg.
Read it all (Hat tip:DR).
Thanks for posting this. There are so many parents these days trying to live their dreams by forcing their children to achieve what they didn’t. When our girls played basketball there were some awful parents. One poor girl, in middle school and doing her best (which was pretty decent, actually) had her dad constantly shouting negative comments about her play from the stands. “What are you doing, Susan!” One day my husband couldn’t take it any more, stood up in front of him and said, “Why don’t you let her just play? She’s doing her best!” The dad slunk away as other parents applauded. I don’t know if it got tougher for Susan at home, but at games the guy was a lot quieter after that.