The other day a little boy told me, “I don’t like to play ball with my daddy, because he gets mad when I drop the ball!” I guess dads do that because they want their kids to learn how to catch the ball and not drop it. They are trying to get the kids to be good athletes and play ball like an adult, not like a kid, because kids drop the ball.
Listen with RealAudio!My hunch is the best way to train a child is not to worry too much about who wins and whether they play like a pro, but rather to teach them to love games. After all, games are supposed to be fun, something you want to do over and over. Isn’t that a better way to learn skills than losing your cool and getting mad?
Maybe, just maybe, adults ought to learn from their kids that even to drop the ball occassionally is OK... without losing your cool.
