Parents of Squirts:

Here is some tough love, but think of it as me helping you and little bender out.
Get out of the locker room! This is not your space. You are not on the team even though you write the check. I will give some leniency to squirt minor parents for the first half of the season, but no leniency for squirt major parents....none.

1) All he needs from you is to possibly tie his skates.....just his skates. Let me repeat, just his skates or better yet, have him ask a coach to do it. If he isn\\\\\\\'t trying to tie his own skates as a squirt major, he better start soon....no parents in the peewee locker room. If you are tying his skates as a peewee, your kid will hear it from his teammates. Save him from the misery from the non-benders. Easy snowflake, it\\\\\\\'s not bullying, it\\\\\\\'s life.
2) Your kid can dress himself as a squirt. Stop helping him take his gear out of the bag and putting it on. If he wasn\\\\\\\'t dressing himself as a mite, your kid is a bender and you are not helping him de-bend himself.
3) If you are in the locker room when the coach starts his pregame talk, get the hell out. The coach hates, it despite what he says. This is not the time to straighten his bag out or decide little B needs his stick taped. By the way, he should be trying to tape his own stick too....I will save the topic for another thread.
4) Rules of Engagement for Squirt Parents:
- Take him to the rink
- Open the trunk, so your squirt can carry his own bag, stick and jersey in. (Town hockey parents can ignore the last one because your kids are allowed to put the jersey in their bag)
- Tell him what locker room his team is assigned to.
- Tell your kid to work hard, listen to the coaches and be a good teammate. Do not tell your kid to score a goal or tell him you will pay him for scoring a goal.
- Say to him \\\\\\\"are you ok tying your skates today or are you going to ask coach to do it?\\\\\\\"
- Cheer his team on...not just your kid.
- Please don\\\\\\\'t be a cattle bell ringer, standings checker or period changer....its just embarrassing.
- At the end of the game AND practice: STAY OUT OF THE LOCKER ROOM. THIS IS TEAM TIME. Your kid will eventually come out of the locker room. If he comes out late, that is because he is having fun bonding with his teammates. Side note: If your kid is ALWAYS the first kid out of the locker room, your kid is not bonding with his teammates and you better look at other teams for tryouts.
- Have him carry his own bag, stick and jersey to the car. Only exception is if you are scrambling to get to a siblings game...that is the ONLY exception given at the Squirt level. If you break this rule, the other parents and players automatically label you as a bender family and will wish you well with your new team next year.
5) Remember, your kid will not play past HS despite how good he was (or you were) in his mite glory days.
6) You are welcome for the education, no thanks needed.
7) Yes, I do have too much time on my hands you can save the hate replies. The hate only comes from those who violate THE RULES.