{"id":1145,"date":"2018-04-11T00:05:31","date_gmt":"2018-04-11T04:05:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.hdhstory.net\/Storyblog\/?p=1145"},"modified":"2018-04-10T17:04:48","modified_gmt":"2018-04-10T21:04:48","slug":"j-jocks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hdhstory.net\/Storyblog\/?p=1145","title":{"rendered":"J – Jocks"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Want to play ball?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Minna just came back from a soccer game. She works with the sixth grade team as a helper, providing refreshments and is also trained in first aid, should it be needed. From the look of things, she was quite pleased with day\u2019s events. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cOur team won,\u201d she shouted as she entered the house. \u201cIt was great, there was a big crowd. You should have heard the coach screaming at the kids. He knows how to push them to do their best. It\u2019s great to win.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Herman wasn\u2019t as excited, he\u2019d been through this before. \u201cLosing is part of the game too. How do you think the kids on the other team felt?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cTheir coach was just as loud. Kids need to be pushed to succeed. I\u2019m sure they were disappointed, but they\u2019ll bounce back. You know how important sports are to a well-rounded individual,\u201d Minna said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Herman sighed. \u201cBut sports is not a be all and end all for kids. Some kids do gravitate to sports, but others prefer music, arts, writing, even academics rather than be a jock.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Minna wasn\u2019t fazed. \u201cI disagree, you just have to see look on those kids faces as their parents are cheering them on. They love it. Sports is great for their self-esteem.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cNot if you\u2019re not into sports,\u201d repeated Herman. \u201cWhat if you\u2019re always on a losing team? What if your parents are the ones that are into sports and are pushing you when you’d rather be doing something else? Sure you may look happy and feel good after a win. But is that because you feel good about yourself, or you feel good that your parents are giving you approval?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not sure about that,\u201d was Minna\u2019s reply. \u201cThere\u2019s nothing wrong with feeling good because your parents are proud of you.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cYes, but then you\u2019re learning to do things like sports for them, not for yourself.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Minna wasn\u2019t convinced. \u201cIf that is so, then that would hold true for music and art also.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cProbably,\u201d Herman reacted. \u201cBut kids should not be pushed into things that they are not comfortable with. You can make them join teams to test out if it\u2019s for them, but if their interests are elsewhere, they should be allowed to stop and pursue those interests. Not everyone is meant to be a jock. Only a small percentage of those will actually make it to the pros. Then there is also the research that shows that some contact sports should not be played at all by children until they are much older. There are long-lasting effects of injuries incurred in ones so young.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Minna could see Herman\u2019s point and she was aware of the pressure that some parents and coaches put on kids to always win and keep playing even when the kids themselves were into other pursuits. \u201cI guess all you can do is worry about your own children. Give them the opportunity to try all different kinds of activities and hope that they find a niche for themselves.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cFor once you and I are on the same page,\u201d Herman agreed.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Want to play ball? Minna just came back from a soccer game. She works with the sixth grade team as a helper, providing refreshments and is also trained in first aid, should it be needed. From the look of things, … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[111,10,7],"tags":[70,67,122],"class_list":["post-1145","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-a-to-z-blog-challenge-2018","category-education","category-story-writing","tag-a-to-z-blog-challenge","tag-harvey-heilbrun","tag-sports-vs-arts"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hdhstory.net\/Storyblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1145","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hdhstory.net\/Storyblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hdhstory.net\/Storyblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hdhstory.net\/Storyblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hdhstory.net\/Storyblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1145"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.hdhstory.net\/Storyblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1145\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1149,"href":"https:\/\/www.hdhstory.net\/Storyblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1145\/revisions\/1149"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hdhstory.net\/Storyblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1145"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hdhstory.net\/Storyblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1145"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hdhstory.net\/Storyblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1145"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}