With the Super Bowl behind us, March madness in front of us and baseball season right around the corner, the spring sports season is full steam ahead. Kids want to do it all. Coaches want kids to specialize earlier and earlier. Dad and mom struggle with when enough is enough and how to keep church and academics as priorities.
I love sports. If it involved throwing, catching or hitting a ball as a kid, I played it. It is that way for a lot of kids. On the positive side, there are many life lessons learned through the discipline of practice and obeying rules for playing a given sport. And, of course, there is the ‘thrill of victory and the agony of defeat’ that has to be processed in a healthy way after each game. Sports is life but … all must be managed well by dad and mom.
… be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brothers. – Romans 8:29. Life’s journey is conformance to Jesus the Christ, to be more Christ-like today than yesterday. That is a challenge even for spiritually mature adult Christians. We read books on leadership and self-improvement in order to keep the career on the right track. We seek mentors and CEO roundtables to help maintain business growth. It is all good stuff if managed well, under the right priorities of nurturing a personal, passionate, growing relationship with Jesus the Christ, living that relationship in marriage and reflecting it in family. Similarly, kids naturally want to conform to their favorite sports figure. The one I worked to emulate as a tennis player was Rod Laver. Our son, loving baseball, looked up to Cal Ripken. Again, this is all good if the focus is on emulating characteristics and not the person. Nurturing giftedness through work ethic and discipline is character building if it is managed well. When a sports-figure reaches the pinnacle of his sport but goes off the rails relationally or financially, the work ethic and discipline that produced success on the field was not managed well across other areas of life. Success in any area of life can be intoxicating to the point of becoming the primary focus. When value is performance-based, success can become a little ‘g’ god. The charge for dads and moms is to manage the home well by setting the example of right priorities in family that are in turn honored outside the home. Then it naturally flows to establish healthy boundaries for kids’ involvement in sports.
Tips for managing involvement in sports well:
- Lead spiritually by example in the home, set the standard for right priorities;
- Encourage and support kids’ involvement in sports and other activities;
- Utilize a calendar app for all to be aware of and take responsibility for activities;
- Establish healthy boundaries with the kids that honor family priorities and communicate them to the coach at the onset of the season.
Prayer guide: Father, thank You for Your word and the example You set. I confess that I have allowed sports to dominate my life and even measured my self-worth as a function of success along the way. And I have carried that little ‘g’ god into the home. Forgive me. I want to conform to You Lord. You have given my bride and I, and our kids unique gifts that we are to accept responsibility for. We are to practice the work ethic and discipline to nurture gifts to be the best we can be, by Your grace and for Your glory. Help me lead spiritually by example and manage each child’s involvement with sports well. That is the dad You call me to be and that’s the dad my kids need to see. Amen.
A faithful father understands sports is life but … manages it well.
