Seven Swim Parent Tips to Stop Comparing Swimmers

Unconditional support and love are more effective in encouraging your child than unwanted and damaging comparisons with others.

It’s natural for parents to make comparisons with their child and other swimmers, whether it’s a sibling or teammate. We use comparisons to evaluate progress. We may think by comparing our swimmers to their peers, we’ll encourage our kids to try harder.

With the best of intentions, we want to motivate our kids to be more competitive — but watch out— it might backfire. When we compare our kids, we may cause more harm than good.