I will never regret that our daughters played sports. We commuted 3 hours to and from practice, spent lots of money on travel and our world revolved around their schedules. I look at the women they have become and would not change a thing.

I came across this great article on 8 essential steps to raising confident girls:

1. Tell her you believe in her
2. Get her outside
3. Pursue her interest
4. Minimize the princesses
5. Parent with empathy
6. Help her love her looks
7. Sign up for sports
8. Show interest in her academics

One of the best decisions my husband and I made was to sit away from the other parents at games and focus on just enjoying the moment. Watching our daughters love what they chose to do…cheering for them and telling them after each game what we saw that they did well that day. It was a conscious effort to choose to do this. Reminder: My husband and I are very competitive and had been college athletes and coaches for many years. It would have been so easy to be critical and focused on fixing problems or telling our girls what they could do better. It was what we did every day all day long in our jobs. But, now that they are grown and I can see the "big picture" very well, I can honestly say it was one of the best decisions we made as parents. 

Jill Hicks is the founder of JH Consulting, which is an advising business helping club gymnasts and parents through the recruiting process.  Call for a free consultation!
www.jhicksconsulting.com