Anything to see her smile
My daughter participated in a softball league this year. Her team was great! they won all but one game. They one they didn't win, they tied. That is a proud dad moment. I had the opportunity to be involved in the coaching. So it was extra special to see the team win. Go Awesome Blossoms!!
As excited as I was to see my daughter and her team succeed, an even bigger win happened tonight.
One of the kids who play on the team has a dad that hadn't been to any game. The mother was always there and very involved. Tonight, this young lady hit a double. Another team got her to third where I was stationed. With the biggest smile she said, "I got a double and my dad was watching!" He was tuned in via facetime. She couldn't contain herself. She was so happy.
After she scored and the inning ended. I told her mom what she said. The excitement of the game continued for the rest of us. The mom walked away from the dugout and still on the phone with her husband said, "Did you hear what your daughter said?" The sound of the conversation faded but I could tell, their situation was how it was for a reason and they were both sad that the dad wasn't there.
Anything to See Her Smile
I get having to travel, I do it quite a bit myself and have spent many nights alone in a hotel room in a distant city tuned in via facetime to my family while they are doing something else. It is sad for families to have to deal with this. The hardest part for me is the amount of love that our kids have for us that we might not even know how deep it is.
This young ladies smile and excitement on the softball team really had nothing to do with her hitting a ball or getting to second base. It was only focused on allowing her dad to watch her do really well.
What is it about Dads that there kids want them to see what they can do?
I have two daughters and one son. I often come how to a house messy and used by kids. There is always something to pick up. I cannot count how many times I have come home and my son will say, "What me to show you what I learned today?" He would take me to his room and start jumping on his bed and show me a new aerial trick, a new flip, or a drop that he learned. My wife would tell me he had been practicing all day.
On so many other occasions, my oldest daughter would bring me a picture that she spent a lot of time on. My oldest daughter is a very talented artist and really enjoys drawing pictures. I have a very big collection of great artwork. This is a self portrait she drew when she was 5. See Figure 1A.
I am very proud of all of these accomplishments. I hang all of the artwork in my office. I record every trick my son does and I show them off to people at work or friend around the neighborhood. I am very proud of what my kids accomplish. But why do kids want to show their dads their new tricks? I speculate that they want to impress us. They want our approval. Perhaps they have showed their mom too many times and we are the ones that can watch if they get hurt.
My son had bee working on a front flip all day but couldn't manage to land on his feet. I have never done a front flip and I started trying to coach him how to do it from my experience watching other people. That was a bad idea, he ended up landing on his head and getting hurt with a sore neck for a few days. I learned a great lesson that day. I may have an understanding on how to do something but true training should be left to the professionals. This helps with safety, technique and proper execution.
I encourage growth and development and helping my kids be ambitious with their talents. We play to win around here.
Figure 1A
We don't always win but man we have a lot of fun learning new things and dialing in things we are already good at.
When We Win, We Win But It's Not Over
I recently listened to a podcast with Ed Mylett interviewing Tim Glover. Two phenomenal men that have a deep passion for winning. If you don't know Ed Mylett is a motivational speaker and life coach and Tim Glover is a sports coach who coached amazing athletes like Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant. Mr. Glover is also a motivational speaker and best selling author and has recently written a book called Winning.
In the podcast, Mr. Glover discussed celebrating a win. When we take a victory, true champions celebrate than immediately start planning for the next win. Mr. Mylett discussed the daily win. The little victories that push us the next win. I want to emphasize that we only win once at a certain thing. For instance Michael Jordan playing for the Bulls only won one championship in 1991. However, he lost the opportunity in 6 playoff games before that. He would go onto win six total between 1991 and 1998.
That mean that he won one and got ready for the next one! That is a great example for all of us. Who cares what you won in High School, that was 20 or 30 years ago. What are you winning right now?
Anything to see her smile
For me the biggest win today was being able to celebrate with a young lady who loves her dad so much that she couldn't stop smiling that her dad saw her succeed at something she was passionate about. Take just a few minutes and celebrate your kids' talents with your kids, they can't wait to show you what they learned/did.