Friday, March 21, 2014

What Matters Most

Late March is such a great time of year, but not for the reasons you think.  Springtime is great, but what makes March so great are two things.  Those two things are the college basketball tournament (March Madness), and Opening day of professional baseball.  Like a lot of guys, sports are something I follow and love.  With the joy of having two boys that enjoy playing sports, it is easy to get consumed in it. Recently, I read an article. As a parent it made me think about sports, my kids, and how I react to my kids involved in sports.  I would like to share this article with you with the hope that it makes you think about your kids or grandkids and sports.  Enjoy the read!

Marty Burgess
College Pastor

The Only Six Words Parents Need to Say to Their Kids About Sports—Or Any Performance

I’ll be honest: I kind of hate a lot about kids’ sports. It’s one area where Kara and I hold different opinions. I’m the wet blanket in the office about everything from little league to major sporting events. Mainly I get concerned about the ways our culture obsesses about kids’ performance. All kinds of parental anxiety and dysfunction plays out on the sidelines and in the bleachers, and you only need walk to your local park to catch a glimpse for yourself. Sports have such potential to build character, perseverance, and skill. Sometimes they succeed, and other times coaches, parents, and mobs of hot-or-cold fans burn out or puff up kids in quite damaging ways. All that aside, my son’s getting ready to play T-ball this spring. I say getting ready, because after sign-ups we were informed that “spring training” would begin immediately this week. I didn’t sign up for that. They want kids there four nights a week, pre-season, to build skills prior to being placed on teams. Did I mention this was just at my local neighborhood park league, not “competitive” T-ball? In the midst of considering my own response to this, I stumbled across this great article by student leadership development expert Tim Elmore. In it he discusses research on what parents can say both before and after the game to encourage their kids, without making everything about performance (either positively or negatively). 

Elmore suggests: Based on psychological research, the three healthiest statements moms and dads can make as [kids] perform are:

Before the Competition:  
Have fun.
Play hard.
I love you.

After the competition:
Did you have fun?
I’m proud of you.
I love you.

It gets even better. Researchers Bruce Brown and Rob Miller asked college athletes what their parents said that made them feel great and brought them joy when they played sports. Want to know the six words they most want to hear their parents say?
 “I love to watch you play.”

That’s it. Nothing aggrandizing like “you’re an all-star,” and nothing discouraging like “here are a couple of things I noticed that you can work on.” Just “I love to watch you play.”

As I gear up for T-ball, band concerts, gymnastics practice, and everything else I’ll be watching my three kids do this year, I’m internalizing these six words. I’m sure I’ll say other things, some that are helpful and some that aren't.

But I want my kids to hear that doing what they do, and learning about who God created them to be, is a joy to watch as it unfolds.