This Dad Thinks Parents Who Put Family Plans Over Kids' Sports Are "The Worst"

A dad is going viral on TikTok after venting about a certain group of parents that he calls “the worst” because they prioritize their vacation plans over a kid’s interest in extracurricular sports.

After hearing from another parent who, according to him, didn’t want to have “the extra responsibility of bringing their kid to practice because it was more or less annoying to them,” because the schedule interrupted their life, he expressed his frustration.

“I’m shocked by the amount of comments in my posts about youth sports from parents that say that they don't allow their kids to play outside of Little League or outside of their three-week soccer league because it ruins their plans for vacations,” Steve Venlet said.

“It's crazy to me to think that parents are taking opportunities away from their kids to grow in a game that could help them succeed in life. Because it ruins their plans. It ruins their Friday night or their Saturday night. It's shocking. It's sad to me.”

Venlet goes on to say that he can’t imagine telling his child that they couldn’t participate in a sport or activity they were interested in due to alternative family plans like a camping trip. Venler doesn’t understand how some parents think it’s impossible to have kids in sports and have special family trips, hoping some reconsider — because it is possible.

After the video got traction, Venler received thousands of comments from TikTok users ranging from full agreement to several parents who doubled down on the idea of prioritizing things like family vacations over youth sports.

“It’s me 🙋🏼‍♀️I’m the parent that doesn’t want our family life to revolve around sports 🤷🏼‍♀️,” one user said.

“It’s crazy that you don’t look at the memories from family vacations and camping trips as opportunities,” another wrote.

“I am sad that parents will sacrifice family time or trips bc of sports games. I grew up playing sports and being on travel teams and I am sad that I didn’t get trips with family,” another noted.

Venler replied, “You wished you would have been told no to playing AT ALL so you could go on trips with family? Not a weekend off… NO IN GENERAL?!”

“Parents who live vicariously through their athletic child(ren) are not okay. Your kid isn't going to make it to the NBA, but they will always remember time with family. There is a healthy/happy medium,” one user pointed out.

Venler responded to the comment with a follow-up video.

“For some reason, there's an assumption that families that have kids that play sports all year round have zero family time that we're just a unit that just plays sports and we don't spend any time together and that's simply not true,” he reiterated.

“I have three kids that play every single sport you could possibly think of ... the extra sports travel ball, the whole nine. We have plenty of time to spend together.

He goes on to say that travel tournaments are actually a special bonding experience in and of itself for his family.

“Yes, our schedules are busy with practices and games, but when we're on our way to those travel tournaments, people think it's just driving to the tournament, playing ball. You don't see your kids at all. It's simply not true,” he explained.

“On the way to those tournaments, we have all that time in the car together as a family to talk and have fun. We stop at amusement parks. We go to Major League Baseball games on the way. We go to zoos. We go to parks. We go to cities that my kids have never been to. We go to restaurants and beaches. We do all of those things on every single one of those trips.”

“We still have family dinners. We still enjoy vacations. ... We can't assume that these families are just completely consumed because they have kids in sports. You can do both. That was the whole entire point of the post that I made yesterday, that there is a way that you can do both things. You can have a family life. You can have a sports family. It's not one or the other.”