About this Go-Cart thing. I have a beef, if you will. You see there is a parent guy who I’ve got a problem with. I’m not going to tell you what I think of him, because it’s not about what I think of him. It’s how he treats the kids. His two raced last year and now they live with their mom in another state. Believe me, it’s a good thing. He would yell at his kids last year when they came off the track if they bumped into another person, or if they were lapped. Mind you, these are kids from 7 to 15 years old. That made me not like him very much.
Now his fella has a new girlfriend who has two sons. He’s trying to talk force the oldest boy into racing. The kid is apprehensive, quite nervous about it. They come out on Sunday and the boy does a few laps. He decides that he’d rather watch this race instead of drive. Totally, no big deal, I’m cool with it, Brand is cool with it. This guy that I’m referring to, not so much. He was pissed. Putting it lightly. And every single person out there knew it.
My problem, this is a sport. It’s for fun. I want every single child who comes out to race to have fun, and want to race. I’ve already made it clear to Brand that there will be no yelling at children. If a parent chooses to do that, they will be asked to leave. No “do-overs”, you must leave the track. While the person at hand hasn’t branched out that far, I’m afraid that he will. Should we call him at home and make our position loud and clear, or just wait to see what happens? I think we are between a rock and a hard place. I don’t want to make any person feel unwelcome, but at the same time…this is supposed to be fun! Every parent wants their kid to do well, and even I’m talking to myself when John is out on the track. Once he is off though, he always knows, win or lose, that he drove like a million bucks. He’s always a star in our eyes.
What would you do?
{ 6 comments }
Good Question Sky!
It’d be hard to tell him, to leave. But at the same time, if he knew ahead of time that it wasn’t accepted, maybe he wouldn’t make such a scene if it did come to him leaving.
Maybe call him, and just find out if the boy is going to race. Then tell him that if he is these are the rules we’ve set up for the year. Let him know that you want it to be fun for all the children, and so there is no yelling allowed on the track, and any parent that is yelling will be escorted off the track.
Good luck with this! Let us know how it goes!
I agree with Amanda. Checking to see if the boy will be racing is a good reason to call, and then bringing up the rules (as if you were informing all parents of new racers) is a good way to make sure he’s at least been told!
That is tough. I really don’t like seeing parents push their children into things they don’t want to do, and then get angry with them if they aren’t the best.
How about making everyone sign a list of rules when they are registering their child for the race? Then if anything is said, he signed the form and can’t complain about it.
What a tough position to be in! I think a call is in order – to let him know the rules and give him fair warning of what will happen if he breaks those rules.
Hey I am a lurker and had to weigh in. I am with Rhonda.
You have to remember something. If he is that bad in FRONT of all of you…how bad is he behind closed doors??
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