My seven year old daughter plays on a soccer team. She loves soccer. She is not the best player and not the worst. She is however, the team crybaby. She finds some reason to cry every single game and practice. She fakes injuries, gets frustrated and cries in front of everyone when she doesn't score a goal, and is the first one to say, "We're never going to beat the other team."
Personally, I always HATED that kid on my team, and now I'm that kid's mom. She does love to play and has fun when things are going her way. She's getting too old for this babyish behavior, and quite frankly, it is embarrassing when 10 other girls and their parents are staring at us because she's being a baby about missing a shot, or because she's too hot. I mean, who cries because they are too hot? No one else's kid does. I am not a negative parent.
I tell always encourage her and always tell her when I'm proud of her. I don't say anything to her when she is acting like a baby. I just tell her very calmly to take a deep breath, take a look at the situation, and go from there...sometimes this works and she catches herself, most of the time she doesn't. In every other aspect of her life, she is pleasant, a team player, and a leader. Just not on the soccer field....any ideas on how to stop her from being the team crybaby and to stop being the negative Nellie on the field?