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Bad Parenting and Coaching
By Joe Renna
We are the sum of our experiences. We draw from an ocean of the people in our lives. People we know well or just know of. We choose the amount of influence they have on us. Some people are overbearing, almost forcibly trying to guide or mold us. This attempt to educate does more harm than good.
We see it plenty in bad parenting and coaching. The most harm
you can do to a child is set limits to their capabilities. That
is done every time technique is taught instead of encouraging
experimentation. Everyone has talent but very few ever tap into
it. The ability to develop talent is inherent. When not nurtured,
this ability is suspended. In modern society, talent has become
a vestige. Like a dog's thumb, it has withered from lack of cultivation.
Personal growth has been traded in for conformity.
Some parents have their children's lives charted out for them
by age 5. The next ten years of the child's life is engrossed
in a regimen of training that almost always ends in mediocrity.
It is a form of child abuse.
Earl Woods got away with it because his son, Tiger, just happened
to be one of the most talented people to ever play the game of
golf. Tiger Woods was born with the tools, physically and mentally,
to be the greatest golfer ever. It was a crap shoot, a one in
a million shot, like winning the lottery, that his wacky father
obsessively sent him in that direction from the cradle. We hear
of these stories and parents try to emulate that success in their
own kids and fail miserably.
Luther Wright played basketball for Elizabeth High before going
to Seton Hall and playing professionally for the Utah Jazz. All
Luther wanted to be was a musician. He wanted to play the organ
and sing Gospel tunes. But since Luther was 7'2", he never
had the chance to fulfill his dream. His life was set on track
by a swarm of handlers who knew what was best for him. He was
just a kid, no different than any other. Of course, he went along.
Luther's career ended tragically. His playing ability was criticized
and his personal life was scrutinized. He never performed up to
everyone's expectations. Yet he was only playing because he was
taught that it was the right thing to do. When he was cut from
the Jazz after one year there was no hand out to catch him.
The best education we can give our children is to be creative.
Find their individual talents and use them to their fullest potential.
It doesn't matter if it's soccer, music or auto mechanics. It's
not the parent's choice, it's the child's.
Not for Nothing But...
if Abraham Lincoln practiced free throws instead of teaching himself
to read, we would all be whistling Dixie right now.