If We Want our Kids to Grow Up…Perhaps We Need to Grow Up!

Last updated on: May 9, 2014 at 3:05 pm by Tim Wright

If We Want our Kids to Grow Up…Perhaps We Need to Grow Up! 2014-05-09T15:05:02-07:00 Tim Wright

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

I was at my granddaughter’s soccer game last week. (She’s going to be 5 this month.) The team is made up of 4-6 year olds.

During the game, a grandpa from the opposing team yelled at his grandson: Next time I come, I better see you score a goal! This on top of other berating comments yelled at his grandson throughout the game. The kid couldn’t have been more than 6 years old!

I know this an ongoing story—a story played out on fields and courts across the country. Story after story has been written about over-demanding parents/grandparents trying to live out their failed dreams through their kids or grandkids. Rather than allowing kids to be kids and enjoy free-spirited fun play and competition, we’re turning kids’ sports into our own personal Super Bowls or NBA Championships or World Series. Instead of allowing our kids to experience the joy of movement and teamwork, we’re trying to shape them into the next multi-million dollar athletes.

It’s a shame! We’re robbing our kids of childhood. We’re imposing education on them at earlier and earlier ages. We’re taking recess away from them in school (or no longer allowing use of balls or anything else that might “hurt” a child so that all the kids can do during recess is stare at each other), we make demands of them in sports or school or other activities that are way beyond their developmental level and at the same time we’ve padded them up with so much bubble wrap that they can hardly move or breathe. And then, when they “mature” into coddled, self-important teens and young adults, we wonder what happened.

At the risk of waxing nostalgic for the good old days, I remember being a kid…we’d say goodbye to mom in the morning and run off and play until lunch, then do it all over again until supper. We started school in kindergarten, which served essentially as way to begin to socialize us into school, not to get us reading Tolstoy by the end of the year. We skinned our knees and looked in awe at our new warrior wound. We got our hands dirty. Our parents let us be kids.

Yes…the world is in many ways a different place. But kids still have the need to be kids. That’s the best way for them to grow up—to start the growing up process being kids. Having fun for the fun of it. Getting dirty. Running around with friends. Playing soccer without having to score a goal or worry about the score, or about grandpa chewing them out for not scoring a goal.

When kids aren’t allowed to be kids, we stunt their growth.

So maybe it’s time for us to grow up and let our kids be kids for the sake of being kids. And maybe in the process we’ll rediscover the joy wonder of childhood ourselves.

Searching for Tom Sawyer

sports

Tim Wright

Previous Post

May 8, 2014

Hugs and Slugs--If Boys Could Speak (Guest Post by Janet Allison)

Next Post

May 24, 2014 Boy is Beautiful (Guest Post by Mark Sherman)

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Bathrooms Bj Thomas Boys Children's Church Christianity Christmas Church Contemporary Christian Music Dad David Murrow Domestic Violence Forging Faith in Kids Girls Gospel Music Grace Jesus Kids Manhood Men Michael Gurian Multi-Generational Worship NFL Parents Podcast Stan Moser Sunday School Sunday School The Purpose of Boys The Wonder of Girls Uncategorized Why Men Hate Going to Church Women

Select a Month July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 September 2015 August 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz