Kids will be kids

Growing up I was NOT a soccer fan... I played baseball and eventually found bowling which I went on to be quite proficient at. Growing up for me bowling was my thing! I loved it. I would watch my parents bowl league, I would watch the professional bowlers on the PBA Tour every weekend, and then I bowled league, at least once a week. I studied it. Imitated my heroes on the lanes. Hours I would stand in front of a mirror practicing my form, rolling a tennis ball down the hallway, taping the PBA shows on the good ole VHS tapes and watching them over and over and over. All these things are what I would contribute to my success in the sport. I was recruited as a sophomore to attend Lindenwood University here in the St. Louis area. Life happened and I didn't end up going to Lindenwood but still, I was good enough to get "noticed" for doing the thing I loved.

I say all that to say... what has happened to kids these days? Maybe it's just me, maybe I am an outlier in the way I went about it but kids today, they may love playing a sport but I don't see them studying it. Taking the time to learn it through and through. Kids today, at least in my world enjoy playing the sport and if you asked them what is your favorite sport, they would say "X", but if they aren't playing it or practicing it on a designated night they are probably obligated through a parental unit to go to, they don't care. They care more about tablet time and whining about the next "thing" they get to go do with their friends. I don't want to take anything away from being a kid, don't get me wrong. Stay young, laugh, find the joy in life, hangout with your friends, and be silly. All those things are good and at the end of the day we as parents should just want our kids to be good kind people and find joy and happiness in a world that can strip it away from you in a blink.

I guess I am just looking for some balance, some hunger for learning. I have seen it when I was a child and today as a parent, children crying when they lose a game, or make a mistake. If something means enough to you, to cry when the outcome isn't what you desired, maybe you should be pouring time into it. Maybe you should be taking every opportunity to make sure whatever you can control in the environment you choose is covered. Surely they can't be under the guise that things should be easy and/or handed to them just by showing up, can they? These skills learned through sport translate into your teenage years, when getting a job, college or trade school, and can for the base of how you handle and react to what life can throw at you. I just hope that when they get to that point they have the tools needed to handle it. Cause for now it's just kids will be kids.