Signs of a Super Dad: A super dad knows the difference between a 4-3, 3-4, Nickel and Dime. The strengths and weaknesses of both the Zone Blitz and the Tampa 2. How to French Braid, name every Thomas Train on sight, and bake a mean pie.
I am not going to pretend I can do everything and be everywhere. Even a Super Dad has his limits. As my children grow older, I will have to start making choices. One of these important choices is how to handle after school activities. I will do everything in my power to “softly nudge” my children to play organized sport. Throughout grade school and high school I played organized sports. Sometimes I loved it, sometimes I hated it, but I didn’t really realize its importance till college. Like much of our lethargic society, I stopped all type of sports activity a couple years after high school. It didn’t take long till I was 70 pounds overweight and, in my view, morbidly obese. I wish I had kept physical activity as a daily routine that organized sports forced upon me. It took me 2 years till I could see my abs again. Now, I try to keep my body in decent physical shape by running, lifting, and playing Volleyball. My goal is to be in the best physical shape of my life. Not only for the health benefits and my wife liking it, I wish to be an example to my children.
Children should play organized sports because it gives them a daily routine of physical activity. Our society is too stationary. We have an epidemic of fat that is suffocating our population. Organized sports does not necessarily mean the staple sports people usually think of, Basketball, Baseball, Football, but even things like Kung Fu, marching band, anything that includes daily practice with physical activity. Hopefully by both being a good example and being involved with whatever sport they choose to play will help them further enjoy physical activity. That training and playing for a sport is both fun and something to be proud of.
Now, there is a stereotypical view of the “overly involved” dad. Everyone has seen the guy at a 4rth grade basketball game screaming at the refs because they made a call he didn’t agree with. This is not a Super Dad. This guy is an idiot. Reliving past failures through your children is both irresponsible and hurtful. A father needs to be a positive role model for their children. Screaming at your 9 year-old for missing a pop-up is the opposite of being a positive role model. Not only is this person embarrassing himself and his family, he is teaching his kids to be stressed out and hate something they should be doing all of their life. Don’t do it. This also leads into my next point.
There are draw backs to organized sports, specifically, the terrible coach. Organize sports should be about teaching kids good physical fitness habits, improving yourself through hard work, and working as a team. Not, winning at all costs. Coaches should teach, not worry about winning. I have experienced far too many piss pour coaches. This goes back to my post last week, a coach, like a parent, who constantly makes fun of their kids is doing harm, no matter what his record is. This is so incredibly obvious, right? And I cannot fathom why I keep seeing coaches of little kids who are screaming and insulting their kids. It’s ridiculous! It is easy for me to write it now, but it is my duty as a Super Dad to immediately yank my child out of anything he/she is participating in if I witness this. I just hope I have the strength at the time to act on it.
Pour coaching is atrociously bad at the high school level. Just because the kids are bigger means you can insult them? It makes me sick. Unfortunately, life is not fair, and more then likely when my children reach high school they will experience a terrible coach. I just hope I have given them the proper tools to deal with this crap. I would be monumentally proud if my child told a coach go “shove it”, but the sad fact is they might have a boss very similar to this one day. That this is a test drive to properly handle the situation and not ME trying to get back at past demons.
Thanks for reading. Tell a friend.
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I agree that organized sports are a great way to stay in shape. I know in high school I was really into sports and it wasn't until I had an injury that took me out of my sports that I realized how super nervous I was all the time. It was a way of dealing with stress and anxiety for me. Dealing with obesity, I never had problems with being overweight but I am very out of shape now it is sad. Childhood obesity is very rampant too. Type II Diabetes used to be only for older people. They had to rename it because no longer was it "adult onset diabetes," what it used to be called, but Type II. Type I was the only type children would get and II would be for the heavy older adults. Now kids are so heavy they are getting type II. I think there are ways to be creative and exercise without organized sports but in my experience it is harder. Some people think kids do not get outside as much anymore and play. Well, with the Wii there is no excuse right? Anyway, I agree that with organized sports there is a lot of scary parents, coaches, and family members. I for one was way too into sports. Is there a way we can participate-kids and parents-without being mean, overthetop, or too aggressive?
ReplyDeleteYou said marching band counts! I'm holding you to that when our kid get into high-school!!
ReplyDelete"This is not a Super Dad. This guy is an idiot."
ReplyDeleteI love it!
Worse then the coaches are the overly involved parents who are prone to yell at a referee or argue with the team's coach about not putting their son or daughter in the game enough. I have a friend who was the assistant woman's basketball coach for North Allegheny and she would tell me horror stories all the time. Don't forget about those mean kids! You know the type I mean! Another great blog entry, keep up the phenomenal work.
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