Skip to main content

Kids these days... PT 1

Kids play on sports teams where they don't keep score, where they don't have "outs" (baseball), where adults are allowed to play certain positions DURING GAMES to make it easier for the kids to learn and have fun. How can you learn when you are not actually learning the rules and regulations and ACTUAL WAY TO PLAY THE GAME?
 I think at a very young age it should be fun and not too competitive. But we are pushing this "everyone is a winner" into higher adolescent age groups, and what are we doing for kids? We are not teaching them to better themselves. We are not teaching them how to cope- with the unfairness of life, with their strengths or weaknesses. We are not teaching humility or humbleness, and thus later in life they do not know how to handle these feelings. We are not teaching sportsmanship (although we think we are) because we are not creating situations where they can be a good sportsman. Everyone is on the same "playing field", so no one has to step up and be the bigger person. 
It appears that there are aspects of the games are considered 'too negative or too harsh' for children to comprehend so we bend the reality to make it easier on them. 

How can we do this to our kids? How can we bend reality? 

I played sports as a kid. If someone on my team was better than me, I sat the bench. If someone was out, they were out- because the other team made a good play or a better play. If we were losing by 10 runs they ended the game (it was called the 'mercy' rule). If you played well, you got chosen to play on a special team called "the all-star" team who played other all-stars. If you were named to all-stars you got recognition at the end of season banquet. If you won with that team you got a big special trophy/medal. If you sucked, you didn't make the high-school team. Your mom could not talk your way on to the team because it "wasn't fair" (however rumor has it money and favors talked...) If your stats weren't there, you didn't play. 


And you knew the feeling of being denied. Of being told NO. You knew there were standards you hadn't measured up to and you either worked harder or you found something you were better at. 

I may become a mother some day... and I hope I can set my kids up to be successful ADULTS. Because that's what childhood is about- prepping them for #Adulting (post about that forthcoming)

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Everyone's thinking it, I'm asking: Is today's left wing liberalism a mental illness?

This is a serious topic of discussion on 'the right'. Not even the far right... the center right. The " 68 % conservatives", the "Centrists", the "Young Outsiders", and the "Somewhat Liberals".  I don't know what the spectrum is for "political or world views" but I'd have to say I hang to the right and the conservative. Which sounds so weird, because CONSERVATIVE is not really a word I'd  ever  use to describe myself. But I talked about this in past blog posts... today's topic is, are people on the FAR LEFT suffering from mental illness? My psychologist sister would have you believe that everyone suffers from some form of mental illness in varying degrees. I suffer from anxiety which induces depression. FUN! The anxiety is inherited, the depression is what occurs when you stop learning how to cope with new or prolonged anxiety inducing situations. Anxiety is a product of chemical imbalance, it can be trea...

sensory overload

We soothe ourselves and distract ourselves and, if we can’t even face the demons inside our own brain, how can we be expected to stick something out, to love someone even when it’s not easy to love them? We bail. We leave. We see a limitless world in a way that no generation before us has seen. We can open up a new tab, look at pictures of Portugal, pull out a Visa, and book a plane ticket. We don’t do this, but we CAN. The point is  that we know we can, even if we don’t have the resources to do so. There are always other tantalizing options. Open up Instagram, Facebook, SnapChat and see the lives of others, the life we could have. The life that just looks so much more glamorous, vibrant (thanks, filters), and exciting than ours. See the places we’re not traveling to. See the lives we’re not living. See the people we’re not dating. We bombard ourselves with stimuli, input, input, input, and we wonder why we’re miserable. We wonder why we’re dissatisfied. ...

Gender Reveal

I had told my husband- after being invited to many of them and seeing more than 'a few' on social media - that I didn't want to have a gender reveal. To me, it's stupid. Being invited to one, I'm like "Do we bring a gift?" or "How does this work?" I think that after being pregnant, I have a better grasp on them and a more solid opinion of them. For my first child, we decided to hold off on a few things. We didn't do the 14 week blood test that would 100% tell us the gender, because it would also tell us a slew of other genetic information (such as if it had Downs or other diseases) that we decided was inconsequential. We didn't find out together during the ultrasound at 20 weeks what baby was, we took home an envelope. We didn't even open that envelope together. My husband actually ran inside the house, opened it, and had it tucked away before I got inside. He HAD TO know, I didn't. I was happy with having a healthy baby growing...