[#life Series] Parenting Part 1ናሙና

The Greatest Challenge for Parents in Our Culture

Every one of us, and specially our kids, will be on a lot of different teams throughout life. But we shouldn’t let that steal from the home team, which is our family. Our family as a team will face a lot of challenges to maintain the three pillars of loyalty, love, and faithfulness, while standing tall. Nevertheless, it has been said that the greatest challenge for parents in our culture is sports and screens.

Both of those are made to connect us together as human beings, aren’t they? But what happens, by the pressure that is taking place in sports? (We are going to call it sports, but by that we mean activities, the drill team, art class, and others.) If you are a parent, you know many things are coming at us and our kids all the time, and that the schedule is the hardest thing to maintain.

Our kids are suffering from anxiety, depression, and all sorts of different ailments because of what is coming to them through these things. Sports and screens—instead of connecting us—are actually fraying us into places of isolation.

Many of us love sports. But as a culture we have lost our mind. The following is from the article: “Youth Sports Have Gotten Too Crazy. They Should Relax” which appeared on The Wall Street Journal. 

“More kids are bailing early on organized sports, undone by the pressures, the financial hurdles and the injuries. The statistics are troubling. A survey conducted by the Aspen Institute in Utah State says that families in the sports lab found that the overall youth team sport participation in the U.S. is on the decline. Just 38% of kids are playing team sports today. Down from 45% a decade ago. The average kid is quitting youth sports after less than three years, at age eleven.”

They are quitting because the pressure has gotten so great. We have forgotten doing it for fun. Some coaches are training their kids as if they were machines, even getting sponsorship by the big brands in their games. And they teach them to exploit their contender’s weaknesses and not to stop until they have not only defeated them in sports but humiliated their spirit, having forgotten sportsmanship altogether.

There are a lot of ways to win. We don’t only win on the scoreboard, we should also win in integrity, in perseverance, in discipline, and in class.