As if parents don’t face enough fears—sickness, finances, job loss, and now COVID-19 chaos—youth sports bring its own set of worrisome scenarios. What are the things you worry most about when it comes to your kids playing sports?

If you’re anything like the many parents I’ve listened to, you can probably identify with these fears:

• My child won’t be happy this season.
• My child won’t get to play as much as they want.
• My child will get hurt playing.
• My young athlete will not reach their potential.
• My child will be bullied.
• My child won’t get a chance to live their dream and play in college.
• My child won’t even make the team. 
• My child won’t be treated fairly by the coach.
• My child will not get along with their teammates.

One or more of these fears kept me up some nights and if I had it to do all over again, I think I would handle those fears differently.

Instead of thinking about the what-if worst scenario, I would focus more on the positive of what was actually happening.
Instead of trying to fix things for my kids, I would let them figure things out for themselves. This is something I got better at over the years, but it was never easy for me.

Instead of worrying about something that might never happen, I’d wait until/if it did and move forward with a positive plan. However, if I’d been wiser, I would have realized that MOST of the things I worried about never came to pass.

Instead of focusing on the negative, I’d spend more time celebrating victories—big and small.

Sports-parenting fears are normal, but they don’t have to be your normal. Start by naming them, facing them, and then move forward with a plan to let them go so that you and your child can enjoy the journey a whole lot more.

Janis Meredith is a family life coach who wants to help all parents raise champions. You can find out more at rcfamilies.com.