Feb 09 2009
Reality is Hard to Come by
I am always amazed at the extreme behavior and attitude of parents when it comes to their child’s participation in athletics. On one hand you will have the hard nosed, old school type who never sees anything positive in their child’s performance. The child may score 31 pts. in a basketball game, including the game winning 3 pointer, but on the way home the player only hears about the free throw they missed early in the game or the fouls she never should have committed. On the other hand, you have the father (usually) who cannot understand why their child is not getting a college scholarship, much less why the coach is not playing them. After getting fed up with the coach for not playing the obvious superstar that their child is, they try to infect the other team parents with the idea that the coach just is wrong for the job and steps need to be taken quickly to salvage the season.
We all need balance in our lives and this is a very difficult area to find it. Too many people live vicariously through their children and expect them to have the same, or better, experience that they did. It’s hard, but sometimes you have to step back and let them experience even the negative parts of life. At times that might mean coming to grips with the fact that their athletic skills aren’t going to pay for their parent’s retirement.
