Why I'll Never Coach My Daughter: Figure Skating & Parenting 101 by Jessica Lawrence

If you ask my mother, she'll say she put me in figure skating lessons because she wanted me to socialize. I was 3, and I can safely say I don't remember actually interacting with anyone in my first Snowplow Sam Group – but I can tell you I was a giant purple grape for my very first ice show!

Once I found out I was having a daughter, I dreamed of her wearing skates and taking the ice. Just as my mother did, I put her in lessons when she was 3. She's almost 8, and skates year round. I'm practical; I know it's so unlikely she'll be attending the Olympics, but skating taught me so many lessons and I hope it does the same for her.

Many people ask me why I don't coach her. To me, I always have had coaches who are real, honest and sometimes harsh. I need that harsh reality, even today, on the ice. I need someone to tell me I'm making things harder than need be. So will I ever coach my child? Quite simply, no. That isn't a relationship I want to have with her.

Instead, I'll be cheering for her, taking videos and, most importantly, embarrassing her.

Would you (or do you) coach your own child?