Letting Them Be A Loser

This has been a debated topic in my house for years.  Travel ball vs. Park Ball. This year both kids made the switch to travel. There is a whole other blog just about that decision and that debate. However, we feel we have made the right decision with both kids at this stage in their life. Marlee is playing with her best friends and the best parents. Tyler is playing with his best friend and his coach is from our church. As parents our goal for sports is to make sure they are having fun and being active. Simple. Real simple. 

Marlee's team entered their first tournament this past weekend. They went 0-4. After being run ruled by a team, she came out of dugout and looked at me and said, "this is the most fun!" Trust me when I say this is not always the case. There have been tears over losing. There have been tears over a spelling test or two but it made me stop and think how many times as a parent do I prevent her from losing? When I am playing UNO do I let her win? What if your child never learns to lose and smile? What kind of adult does that make.  Life will be full of success. Life will be full of failures.If you are defining success as merely the absence of failure, that’s a sad way to live your life.  Anyone can avoid failure by just having low expectations. But if you define success as learning from your failures, suddenly losing the ball game is fun. 

What is in the best interest of my children isn't thousands of baseball and softball games. What is important to my children? Do we expect too much of children today? Do we expect too little of children today?  Is it okay with me if my child is in the middle? 

It's okay with me. 

Do I want them to taste victory? Yes. I love to win as much as the next crazy yelling momma but I have to parent both. 

Letting them forget something.

Letting them do the school project themselves. 

Letting them recieve the consequence. 

Letting them be a loser. 

But many who are first will be last, and the last first. (Matthew 19:30 ESV)