I can't skate - at all ... sadly. But, apparently, I'm a pretty handy-dandy part of the coaching team, with the coaches blessing. I've spent so many hours rink side, and have learnt enough from my kids, research, (this forum), coaches, ex-skaters, other parents, watching and asking questions, that I can support my kids with good assessments of jumps, spins, footwork, posture, edges etc; I'm not particularly good with dances, but, that's because my guys haven't pursued dances as intensively, although, for many painful reasons, damn, I can call a Kilian like nobody's business (sigh, 8 attempts for one kid, 3 for the other). So, I can do feedback on runthrus, jump practice, spins, footwork etc, and it's helpful, particularly as my kids have matured and need less lesson-ing and are more independent practitioners. Apparently, I can even call a spin level quite nicely ... my DD is a fairly high level official and she's taught me well. Sometimes I'm rinkside, sometimes in the gallery; sometimes it's video replay at home. Depends on my arthritis and how much cold I can take on a day. The coaches appreciate this, and they include me in discussions and ask me to watch for specific "things" when the kids are working independently.
In regards to LTS: my early frustration with LTS came when there was no communication. My kid would get the high-fives, waytogos, etc, and would assume that all was trucking along nicely to passing a level. As a non-skating parent, what did I know about what something should look like? Then, report card day would come, and, eeks, things were NOT progressing well/level was way off, etc. Which meant confused and disappointed kid who thought they were doing great, and a baffled and frustrated parent who couldn't explain things (this is a loonnnnngggg time ago, btw). Once we moved to a program where honest communication was in place vs. constant cheerleading, the kids were happier (mom, my 3-turn is better, but, the coach says it needs to be more on my edge and I need more runout, so, I'm not passing that yet) and I got interim feedback rather than the terminal report day, it was waaayyy better. Made me far more relaxed, and the whole thing was happier. Saw a lot less parent unhappiness in general from program 2 vs program 1 ....