NHL.com - Life as a hockey parent isn't easy.
In addition to the rising expense of equipment and ice time, there's a commitment to travel and setting alarms for early-morning wakeups every weekend during the travel hockey season.
It's an unforgiving process, but one that can be extremely rewarding for our sons and daughters if done properly.
"I always tell parents the one thing they should expect out of their kids is attitude and effort in the early stages of learning the game," said Jon Greenwood, the director of hockey development at the Maritime Hockey Academy in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia.
Author and youth hockey advice columnist Christie Casciano Burns admits there are two areas every hockey parent should take into consideration in the early stages of youth hockey development.
"Punctuality and selflessness in practices and games," Burns told NHL.com. "And nagging parents need to chill … seriously. Let the coaches coach, referees ref, and let the kids be kids."
Burns' son, Joe, began playing hockey when he was 8 years old with the Lysander Youth Hockey program in Lysander, N.Y. READ MORE
