WINE CHATS: We all love to cheer our kids on during competitions, but do you find some parents a bit… much?

We all love to cheer our kids on during competitions, but do you find some parents a bit… much?

Welcome to this week’s The Nightly edition of Wine Chats, where we settle into the couch with a tiny bottle of Sirromet wine that Lyndsey found in the back of her fridge. Don’t judge us like we’re about to judge parents who are just a bit too much when it comes to cheering their kids on during school competitions.

Senior athletics and parent antics

Lyndsey: So two days this week, I was cheering on two of my kids at their athletics carnival. I always go to these things.

Billi: You’re that type of gal.

Lyndsey: I’m that type of mum. Plus I’m two minutes around the corner. I’ve got all the time in the world. Love it. What else would you be doing?

Billi: Lots of different things.

Lyndsey: Anyway, I’m always there to cheer them on. And it’s funny because there the mums like me who are always there cheering their kids on, but we’re lighthearted about it.

Billi: There are lots of super competitive parents.

Lyndsey: Yes. We’re not cheering on Olympians. We’re cheering on 10 and 11-year-old kids.

Billi: But they could be future Olympians.

Lyndsey: They could. Right. And at our school, actually, there are some really good Athletes. I guess you call them athletes, right? They’re actually athletes. Um, my children are not them.

Billi: Maybe if you cheered them on a little bit harder.

Lyndsey: Do you know what? Just a side note. When I cheer, I have a very squawky Canadian voice.

Billi: We could not tell. We had no idea. It’s such a surprise to us.

Lyndsey: It is so bad. I get that. And I apologize to those around me who are taking a video of their kid.

Billi: So do you really just, like, scream hard at your kids when they’re doing stuff?

Lydnsey: Oh, a hundred per cent. Because they do laps of things and they’re far away.

Billi: And so even when they’re far away, you’re yelling at them?

Lyndsey: I am one of the nuts mums (who screams), a hundred per cent.

Billi: But I mean, you could wait for them to get closer.

What’s the opposite of a competitive parent?

Lyndsey: So back to the whole athletics thing. So Ada is like a little baby elephant when she runs, bless her. She doesn’t have speed, but she gives it a go. But Bane is quite good. He’s not the best, but he’s probably in the top handful of boys his age for running. So I get really into cheering on Bane. That’s where you need to mute your volume.

But, there are certain mums there, and dads, that is super competitive when their kids are up. And I’m always like, I don’t get that.

Billi: I don’t either. I mean, I don’t get what you’re doing, let alone what those people are doing.

Lyndsey: What? So do you not, if your girls are running or competing in something at school and you go and watch, you wouldn’t cheer?

Billi: I would cheer, but I would cheer when they could hear me. I wouldn’t be screaming across the school when they can’t possibly hear me. And I make myself visible. It’s only last year that I realized apparently going across countries and stuff is like a thing and you need to go because your kids appreciate it.

I reckon I missed so much of their school stuff at the beginning because I’m like, I’m not showing up to that. It’s stupid. Anyway, I’m now that mum that goes as well. But I remember them doing cross country and I wasn’t screaming across the field. I would just make myself seen.

And then when they run by me, I’d be like, go, Eve! I would yell then, and then I would wait for them at the end. And then I would hug them like a normal person. I don’t feel the need to be screaming.

Lyndsey: Oh, but they can hear you. They’re just on the other side of the oval.

Billi: Well, they’d probably hear you with your squawky voice.

Lyndsey: I actually have resorted to making a noise too. I’ll go yoo-yoooo, it’s so annoying. I get it. I’m so annoying. And the one mom and I that like to hang out every year at the athletics carnival, because her kids are freaking superstars, we’re the light-hearted ones, but some of those mums are like, Betty, calm down.

Billi: My nephew plays soccer at some super duper level. He’s amazing. And I’ve been to a couple of his games and I find his parents, my in-laws, so funny. They’re not the yellers and the screamers, but they are so competitive. The level of intensity and the level of competition that some of these people and parents have - I don’t have a competitive bone in my body.

I actually think my kids are probably pretty athletic themselves. They’re pretty sporty people. I’m a little bit sporty. I just don’t like it. My body can do it. It’s just not my jam. Both my kids came fifth in their cross country last time they did it out of like 30 kids or something. I actually couldn’t believe how fast they ran. I think if we were to encourage that and if we were competitive, perhaps they would be really good sportspeople.

It’s just, that we’re more kind of like Netflix and chill kind of people, you know what I mean? When it comes to cheering them on, to me, it’s more like, but did you have fun? Like, was this awesome for you? Rather than go-and-beat-that-little-sh...

Lyndsey: But there’s an in-between. There’s those two types of people and then there’s me, the happy cheering, you want to egg them on and cheer them on because you know their potential.

But then there’s the parents who will say stuff to the kids that win…

Billi: Ohh, no! No.

Lyndsey: …saying, you know, that so and so actually should have won.

Billi: Don’t be that parent. Don’t be that guy. Don’t be that guy. Don’t talk to other people’s kids!

Don’t be that guy

If ever you’ve learned a lesson from us let it be this - don’t talk to other people’s kids during sports events unless you’re looking to cheer them on. There’s being competitive and encouraging your kids, and then there’s being a di… okay that’s all from us!

Thanks so much for joining us for another competitive episode of Wine Chats here on The Nightly. Shall we meet again, let’s say the same time and same place next week? Until then, YOO-YOOOOOOOO!