HOME SESSIONS ABOUT US CONTACT US
PARENT-CHILD CLASS (3&4 YEAR-OLDS)
The Parent-Child class is different from the other classes as we expect parents to join in and do the activities with their children. Some 3 & 4 year olds won’t be able to handle a 60 minute session. It is fine in the Parent-Child class for parents and children to arrive late, leave early or sit out for 5 minutes when they need to. It is also acceptable for children to leave the activity they are meant to be on, in order to do something else that appears more interesting to them. Coaches should make this clear to the parents.
The teaching and learning process is different in this class than in the other age-group classes. In the Parent-Child class, the main teachers will be the parents. The coach’s role is to show the parents what to teach their children. The coach needs to set-up activities which will encourage learning, but address the parents when demonstrating and explaining how these activities work. (This is also a good age-group for getting parent-child couples to demonstrate something they are doing well – it encourages them to work together, gives a sense of reward and gets them used to performing in front of others).
The Parent-Child class gives us an excellent opportunity to show parents how they can support their children as they learn to play and grow-up in football. Some of the key points that coaches can try to get across are:
- Enjoy spending time together, and play with a ball regularly.
- Don’t be too prescriptive in how the child solves a problem; allow them freedom to experiment.
- Don’t just teach children how to kick the ball away! Teach children how to control the ball, move with a ball, enjoy having and keeping the ball.
- Praise children for doing something well or for trying to do something well.
- Help children to learn from each other (‘Did you see how Jack and his dad did that? I wonder if we can do that too!’).
- Have high expectations of a learning environment. Expect excellence.
Below are a few sample activities from the MoF Coaching Manual. If you have any comments or suggestions, or want to purchase the Coaching Manual please email by clicking here.
Recieving and Shooting
In this activity, parents supply thrown passes to the child, who attempts to kick the ball into a goal. The parents can make this more challenging by varying the service.
Dribbling and moving with the ball
Children and parents have a ball each in the activity below. The activity starts with two passes against the wall, then a turn, and dribble through any two gates. Shoot and score in one of the goals to finish. This can be progressed by making the parent a defender and goalkeeper instead.
ABC (Agility, Balance and Co-ordination) Circuit
Parents and Children move around a range of activities, spending two or three minutes at each station.
Related pages: Back to top