We are currently in the thick of Sonny Boy's wrestling season. Each week is dominated by discussions of which tournament to attend, which bracket, what time to leave, etc. At least one weekend day is spent at a tournament sitting around in a LOUD gym waiting on the total of maybe 12 minutes he actually wrestles. Sonny Boy is blooming both as a wrestler and an kid, it's good.
In a flurry of feeding the fire I ordered a wrestling documentary from Amazon called "Pinned". Pinned follows the high school season of two elite wrestlers from a suburb of Cleveland. One boy is the child of a single mom attending public school. The other boy attends a wrestling powerhouse private boy's school. The boy at the private school has a father that is more than obsessed with turning his children (he has a younger son too) into champion wrestlers, the lengths he goes to are pretty extreme even in the world of crazy sports parents.
The crazy father got me to thinking; where is the line? Where is the line between pushing your child to be his best and offering all the advantages you can? I know currently Sonny Boy is teetering on the brink of becoming a dominate wrestler, most matches are battles (sometimes even a little bloody) with close scores, and mixed results. It doesn't take someone experienced in wrestling to see he just needs a push, and he sees that as well.
Hubby is very "whatever" about the whole thing. He of course roots on SB, and has a hand in discussions but there is little push thinking it all has to come from him. I'm a little more pushy though. I lead SB through some push ups, sit ups and some light weights. I don't feel as if I'm forcing, just more of a reminder that the only wrestling goal one meets in front of the tv is waiting on it to air. To be fair, I hold back, because I can see how parents go down the trap of the sports parent quickly and I don't want to go there.
WINNIE'S LITTER Just a little blog of the ins and outs and ups and downs in the life of a mom.
2 comments:
I think, that as long as you are aware of what you don't like to see, that you may avoid the behaviors. Yelling at the kid for losing...pushing the sport when the kid has lost interest...etc. I don't see anything wrong with weights and some home work-outs...but if he doesn't want to do them to improve his wrestling, then it would be time to stop.
We went through this with dance. What started out as dabbling, turned into the studio demanding 5-days a week. My daughter wasn't that into dance, so she opted to quit instead. I was good with that.
Today's athletes are pushed for that dang-blasted "Scholarship." What good is it if your kid is miserable? We found other ways to pay for school AND my kid isn't unhappy.
:/
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