Where have all the children gone on Saturday or Sunday morning? To open fields at the crack of dawn still wet with dew or to gymnasiums that smell of popcorn and hot-dogs before the stroke of noon?
Wow! Does it make you wonder if our kids are getting a balanced life. I mean after all, there is another side to life. A life beyond the game?
Sometimes I think it has gotten so out of control that parents don’t know how to stop it but wish they could. Somehow they’ve been pulled into this current of sports mania and are being driven down stream at such a pace that exhaustion sets in and they simply give into the current and allow themselves to be swept away.
It’s maddening and yet there is no end in sight.
Balance. How often have we heard that word? Parents know they need it, they want it, but the game rules don’t allow it. Practice, practice, practice, one game here another there and on and on you go.
How many voices have been hushed over the years regarding resonable rules and time spent on a field. Kids are having to choose sports over home-work, sports over church, sports over family meals (if such a thing still exist) It’s sports or nothing.
Have you ever asked yourself….
- How high has sports been elevated in my family and as a parent am I setting good boundaries for myself and my kids.
- Who has the greater expectaions, me or my child?
- Do I spend as much time talking to my kids about God and life in general as I do about the game?
- Do I spend as much time actually engaged in an activity with my kids as oppose to watching them from the sidelines?
- Have I been attentive to the pier pressure or the subtle attacks to my childs self-esteem? Have I seen emotional stress or signs of chronic fatique?
- Have I given each of my children equal time? Equal praise?
- How do I handle the stress, the commitments and the exhaustion?
- If you have several kids, who gets the short end of the stick? Who gets less of your time, your energy, your applause? Do any of your kids feel inadequate or less important because they are not athletic?
- And who’s dream is this? Really, yours or your child? Be careful of seeking the glory for what you have your child accomplish?
Thats alot to ponder. Perhaps now if you had not seen it before, you can you see how sports has been elevated beyond the stars in the sky. There is nothing wrong with a child wanting applause and having the dream of being the next “great olympian”. There is nothing wrong with wanting to be good at something and working hard to achieve a goal. It is a good goal to be a “champion”. But will your son or daughter be a “Balanced Champ!” Thats the question!
How can you find balance if the coaches or the managers are constantly dipping into the quality time of families and individuals.?
Do you ever wonder where your child will be after the games are over, after they leave school? Will you be able to say you know them, that you’ve prepared them for life? Will you be able to recall any one on one time you had with each of your children? And what about the family meal, will you remember one, or will you have flash backs of hamburgers and fries on the way to a game.
Would you agree that sports has become an Idol in American Culture. Players and teams are worshiped like gladiators. Is it any wonder that our love, our obsession for the game has pushed God right out of our lives., or to the sidelines. For many, God is completely out of the stadium, out of the ballpark, out of the dome, out!
I’m suggesting that we voice our concern to sports associations. Kids should have a choice that doesn’t neglect balance. How many kids are told they can’t go to church because the team has practie or a game. They have to choose, family, God or game. How many kids have been told they are not dedicated enough if they are unwilling to miss church, unwilling to give 110%. Their right to a balance life is being stripped away. Their right to play the game and still have a day, a morning, a time to worship or to be with family is taken from them.
We have a voice…..and we need to be a voice of reason. Step out of the current, don’t be swept away by the hype of it all….bring back the balance.
Don’t let coaches and associations dictate scheduled practices and games for Sunday mornings. It doens’t have to come down to all or nothing. These are our kids, not professional sportsman but kids who need balance. Children should not be punished because they want to participate in their faith on Sunday morning. This isn’t about legalism, it’s not about having to go to church, It’s about choice! Your kids deserve the right to be able to choose their faith and the game.
Having a a relationship with God, will bring Balance into their lives. Having time with their family on a weekend morning, will bring balance into their lives. Having time to simply talk about life….will bring balance into their lives.
The relationship your children have with God will last a lifetime. It is the very foundation by which they will make choices that will affect their lives here and for eternity. It is that relationship with God that will build their self worth which is not measured by wins or losses but by unconditional love.
Your relationship with God will impact your relationship with your kids and their relationship with you. It goes full circle.
God is the one who is in the Field of Dreams, God is the one who is cheering you and your kids on, God is the one who will love you and your children unconditionally win or loose, God is the one to be Praised and to be applauded and in doing so your life, their lives will have much more meaning.
