In sports, an unfortunate and increasing trend is fighting on the field. When players are being suspended left and right for unsportsmanlike conduct and attacks on spectators. My primary question is, "How is this affecting our children?"

Children love sports, but they are also very impressionable. Young children especially are unable to differentiate between make-believe and reality. To watch so much aggression just on the field in a normal game has been suggested by researchers to cause aggression in our children, but what kind of affect does it have when the players starting beating up people in the crowd?

Research has shown that violent role models, even models on television, in movies, and in video games, promote aggressive, violent behavior in our children. A player's actions on the court or field may affect our children's actions the next time they are in a similar situation.

In addition, parents and others yelling and screaming, even swearing, at a game on television can cause children to begin accepting violent behavior and imitating it. We need to display a calm, but excited attitude to our children that both represents the enjoyment of watching sports and cheering for your team, as well as good sportsmanship under all circumstances.

With players beginning to take out aggression both on and off the field, as parents we should be more careful about what we allow our children to watch. If they are watching a game that becomes violent, we need to sit down with our children and explain to them that fighting and hitting are not okay, even though the famous sports heroes of basketball and football, whom they adore, were participating in this type of behavior.

Children mimic what they see others do, and you don't want a phone call from school Monday morning that your child lashed out at little Johnny.

As parents, we don't necessarily have to ban our children from the television or movies, but we do need to be sure that we demonstrate through our own behavior what is right from wrong, and of course discuss those concepts as well. Just because a game or a movie ends within a couple of hours, real life doesn't work like that; here, we have to face the consequences of our actions.

Prepare and inform your children, so they will understand the differences between acceptable sports activity and unacceptable sportsmanship, as well the difference between television portrayals and real life.

Darcy Yarnell describes herself as a Soccer Mom. Dedicated to the sport, Darcy contributes to YN Soccer, offering free information and connecting you to resources related to soccer. Darcy's interest in soccer extends to other sports. Visit YX Sports and Row Z Baseball for additional articles.

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