This season in sports has been the worst to date with the
horrible fights that have broken out on the field. Players
are being suspended left and right for unsportsmanlike
conduct and attacks on spectators. My primary question is,
"How is this affecting our children?"

Sports have great appeal to children of all ages. They
enjoy both playing and watching sporting events. However,
young children in particular are quite impressionable.
Developmentally, they are not capable of clearly
differentiating between real and pretend violence. So,
watching a normally aggressive game such as football has
already been suggested by research to encourage aggression
in children. Go beyond the normal tackling and blocking of
the game to attacks on fans in the crowd, and the impact on
a child surely isn't good.

Research makes the impact of role models on children's
behavior clear. Violent role models, wherever they are -
especially in person, on TV, movies, and video games -
promote behavior in children that is violent and
aggressive. When children witness a player behaving badly
on the field or court, they use that information to make
decisions next time they face a similar situation
themselves. What's more, when children see parents and
other fans screaming, yelling, and swearing in anger, they
begin to accept this behavior as normal, the thing to
imitate. Instead, adults need to demonstrate good
sportsmanship. An attitude of excitement that is directed
toward cheering for your team or playing the game well is
the behavior we want our children to imitate.

As parents and community members, we must take care
deciding what we allow our children to experience. With
players taking out aggression on the field and in the
stands, children watching a sports event could witness
violence during a game. We talk with them and explain
definitely that fighting, hitting, and verbal assault are
wrong behaviors - even though the adored and famous sports
heroes of football and basketball were acting that way.
More important than our words, children watch what we do.
Children mimic what they see sooner than they process and
act upon what they hear. It is unreasonable to expect good
sportsmanship from children who have seen different models.

As parents, we don't necessarily have to ban our children
from the television or movies, but we do need to be sure
that we demonstrate through our own behavior what is right
from wrong, and of course discuss those concepts as well.
Just because a game or a movie ends within a couple of
hours, real life doesn't work like that; here, we have to
face the consequences of our actions. Prepare and inform
your children, so they will understand the differences
between acceptable sports activity and unacceptable
sportsmanship, as well the difference between television
portrayals and real life.

Darcy Yarnell's articles on topics related to sports are
published in <a href="http://yxsports.com">The Sports
News</a> , the leading resource on-line for information
about sports. Visit the complete archive of articles here:
http://www.yxsports.com

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