Today our church took a group of children to "Maggie's Jungle Golf". The grade levels were from 1st-6th so the girls were left home. That is ok because us guys need to get out and spend some time together. Micah doesn't really have the putt-putt golf thing down very well so he struggled for a while. The competitive father in me wanted to help him putt better so he could make the par. Then it came to my realization that I was about to do something that I hate concerning parents and sports. That is take the fun out of it and make our children compete in EVERYTHING. So I sat back and let him whack at the ball, scoot it across the green and putt out of line. You know what....? I found myself actually enjoying watching him have fun at something. The day will come on it's own when the start working for scores. I need to enjoy the time just letting him have fun without worries of losing.
Then the same thing happened when we when to Gatti Land Pizza. After we all ate we headed to the game room. There were video games all over and some gave tickets. Most of the kids went to the games that gave out tickets so they could start working for prizes. Micah headed to some video games and then occasionally toward one that dealt out tickets. In my mind I was calculating how many tokens we needed to play on ticket games. I at first wanted to encourage him to play those so he could get prizes. Then again I pulled back and let him have fun at whatever. Over the course of time he collected 25 tickets which could only purchase one of those army men that have a parachute on it's back. You know what....? He had fun and wasn't worried about what everyone else had.
So to all of those parents out there pushing their kids to WIN WIN WIN! Pull back from that and let them have fun. If we fail to let them be kids their childhood will be wasted in competition. The grow up too fast anyway.
Have a great evening!
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