“Leaders are made, they are not born. They are made by hard effort, which is the price which all of us must pay to achieve any goal that is worthwhile.” ~ Vince Lombardi
This coming weekend will include hot wings, pizza and a treasure trove of other unhealthy foods consumed by people celebrating the time honored tradition of Super Bowl Sunday. So, in honor of football’s most important annual game, I am dedicating this blog to football and how I think it relates to parenting.
Every successful football team requires a good coach to win. I read an article a few years ago that said one of the many reasons Coach Bob Stoops is so beloved by the players is because he always lets each player know what they do that contributes to the team. Letting our children know what wonderful qualities they possess that contributes to your family’s success is important to convey. We as parents are the key to the success of our family. It is up to us to provide stability, discipline, leadership and patience, just to name a few necessary qualities. Coaches also rely on their assistant coaches to be successful, which for us, can be family members, trusted friends and books to help us out when we need advice.
One thing I always say when my beloved Pittsburgh Steelers’ season is over…”There’s always next season.” The same goes for parenting. Today may have been a bad day. You may have made a mistake with your kids. You may have been inconsistent. You may have changed the play at the last minute and it resulted in a missed field goal which cost your team the game. Tomorrow is a new day to apologize, fix it, move on and win. We are not perfect and should not expect our kids to be either.
Football, just like life, can be tough. Your team has been on a losing streak, is full of injured players and everyone involved on and off the field has been losing confidence in this team’s future. Does the team give up? No. The next Sunday you see this team suit up with its coach on the sidelines cheering them on. We have been blessed with such an important job to raise our children to be the best they can be so they grow up to be successful adults. Do we give up when times get hard? No. We have to work even harder to help make our losing team start winning again.
Will our teammates help us make it to the Super Bowl? Will one of them be enshrined in Canton, Ohio? Who knows, but the journey of parenthood sure is worth all the hard work of getting there.
What are your secrets to being a good head coach of your household?
