Good sportsmanship -- more than just sports

Hello, Good Sports!

As many of us get ready for a new school year (hard to believe that some schools are already back) I wanted to share some information from an article by Dr. Michele Borba about "Poor Loser attitude."

Now, you can probably guess what Poor Loser Attitude and the Good Sport Bad Sport Blog have in common: poor losers are bad sports.

And you can probably guess what Poor Loser Attitude and the new school year have in common: poor losers in football, soccer and other fall sports.

But there's another reason to talk about Poor Loser Attitude and the new school year.

Poor loser attitude isn't just about sports -- it's a trait (or ailment, according to Dr. Borba) that affects children's attitudes in class, in relationships and other activities, too. And a new school year is the perfect time to rid your child of his or her bad attitude.

Dr. Borba lists 7 solutions to stop poor loser attitudes and boost sportsmanship but I wanted to talk about this one because I think it's a great reminder for us all:

Stopping Poor Loser Attitude starts with us (you and me).

Children learn much of what they know and how they act from us at home. If we parents make excuses for our behavior or blame others, or criticize Coach -- what do we think our children learn? A new school year is a great time for us to stop our own poor loser attitude -- and start providing good modeling moments for our children.

So, parents -- I'll be making sure that I'm a little more careful about what I say and do, doing my part to keep Poor Loser Attitude away from our house.

I hope you will, too.

Leslie