I've had the chance to attend many of the US Kids Golf competitions over the last couple years -- truly a wonderful organization.  US Kids Golf gives children an opportunity to compete and train just like the professional golfers on the PGA Tour and LPGA Tour. One of the cool things about the events is that the parents are allowed to watch, and even caddie for their own child.

Through my experience in attending these events I started to become really interested in observing how certain kids processed and worked with certain information -- especially how the kids reacted to and learned from their parents reactions after each golf shot they hit. 

Watching this stuff, I felt like I was in the middle of a live case study on how a human being develops emotional reactions and fears. I was intrigued because I could observe how, in reality; a child knows and has no fear until he or she is taught to have fear. Kids naturally swing fearlessly and free -- they always just go for it. And it’s often their parents who teach them otherwise. 

What I realized was that kids are truly masters of reading emotions, and their parents are the first ones they look to after each and every shot, either good or bad.  Kids are looking for feedback.  If the parent is watching from the sideline, and throws up his or her arms, and wears a facial expression that reads "I can't believe he missed that short putt!" or “How could she have hit that ball in the hazard?" Then the child will recognize these negative responses and quickly develop a fear of hitting bad shots.  

As much as those parents – like you if you’re a parent -- want their children to play well and have fun, our adult, fearful conditioning makes it very tough not to let out an "Ewww!"... or even a "@#$?%!”  But DON’T! As difficult as it might be, swallow your own emotions and only display as much encouragement and positive support as you can muster up.

As I have repeatedly observed, when a parent continuously shows a positive spirit, and only demonstrates a positive emotion, the child will know nothing else -- and grow to be fearless and free.  So don't ever let your young child think that it is a horrible thing to hit a bad shot! In fact, do your best to teach them that there is no such thing as a bad shot in the first place -- as long as you can learn something from that bad shot.