Judy Murray backs charity in Mother's Day campaign

Judy Murray urged parents to encourage their children to follow their dreams as she backed a charity that provides school meals in some of the world’s poorest countries.

The tennis coach said she is a “big fan” of Mary’s Meals, which feeds more than 1.6 million children every school day in 18 countries around the globe.

The charity is celebrating the role of mothers in the run up to Mother’s Day on March 22 and is asking supporters to send a Mother’s Day gift card of £15.90, which will feed a child for a whole school year.

Murray, mother of tennis stars Jamie and Andy, said she thinks one of the key parts of being a parent is creating opportunities for your children while letting them learn from their mistakes.

She said: “I think you give them wings so they can fly.

“You create the environment for them to thrive and that environment changes at every step of the journey.

“You have to help them develop independence, responsibility, keeping their feet on the ground, all the good values in life and help them to develop their life skills that will stand them in good stead as they progress towards adulthood.

‘I think you give them wings so they can fly.’
Judy Murray

“You are always having to learn what is the next step, what do they need?”

She added: “You have to understand that at some point they are going to fly the nest, usually when they go off to school but there is a lot of helicopter parenting goes on now and for me, you have to give them the independence that they need, let them make their own decisions, let them make their own mistakes, pick themselves up after mistakes, because the success parts are the easy parts.”

While her sons have gone on to have successful careers on the tennis court, initially Murray just wanted them to be active and enjoying the fresh air.

She said: “I’m a huge believer in the power of sport in terms of overall development of young people.

“My kids both went on to have careers in sport but when they were little I just wanted them to enjoy sport and being outdoors and sport was something that we could do together as a family.

“It’s about encouraging them to have goals, have dreams and we are there as parents to support them .

“It’s the unconditional love that comes of being a parent.”