Your kid and my kid are not playing in the pros

[MentschTrachtGottLacht]

I think one area where parents and families fail is by basically pushing the child to "get a scholarship" and allowing them the mindset that they don't need to be great academically

 

There are parents telling their kids they "don't need to be great academically"? Who? Is that just an opinion or you know parents who tell their kids to just do enough to pass and sports will take care of the rest? Not to beat a dead-horse, but that has nothing to do with youth sports and everything to do with moronic parents.

[theguru]

1 out of 100 gets a scholarship and chances of having a professional career are 1 in 16,000. Chances of winning the Powerball: 1 in 175 million. What's more of a waste of money?

 

And for Pete's sake, I didn't say it was easy. It's just a fact that someone's kid is going pro. No matter what stats you post, someone's kid is going pro.

 

So the Doc is right 99.99 something of the time but let's beat him up.

[stickymitts]

I said "not many" and I was right.

 

No comment on the second (and most important) part of my post?

 

The second part of your post simply tells me that you aren't around enough. Grades and ACT scores = money. Money that's available to everyone and not just those with a skill. I'm happy to say I don't run with those parents, whoever they may be.

[woodsrider]

Maybe because your kids enjoy playing sports, like being a part of the team, and learn valuable life lessons from playing sports? How people spend their money is entirely up to them.

 

Again, that's great and for a percentage of the population it works. But for some it leads to issues. And no one is saying how anyone should spend their money. But it's kind of like spending 6 figures on a college degree that will get you a job making $30,000 a year.

[stickymitts]

So the Doc is right 99.99 something of the time but let's beat him up.

 

Not beating him up by any stretch. Just stating that I think the things he views as negatives can be viewed as positives if handled the proper way AND that I think the majority of parents/families are handling it the proper way.

[TheDeuce]

I think one area where parents and families fail is by basically pushing the child to "get a scholarship" and allowing them the mindset that they don't need to be great academically or great at a trade. When the halcyon days of high school sports are over, they haven't developed any kind of skill or knowledge that can carry them beyond sports. So they're left with a degenerating talent with nothing to move on to.

 

So now we are talking about not pushing kids to be the best they can be in their endeavors? How much sense does it make to tell your kids "Hey, play this sport, but don't try to be too good at it, because then you won't know what to do after it's over."?

[gchs_uk9]

There are parents telling their kids they "don't need to be great academically"? Who? Is that just an opinion or you know parents who tell their kids to just do enough to pass and sports will take care of the rest? Not to beat a dead-horse, but that has nothing to do with youth sports and everything to do with moronic parents.

 

As a teacher, I've seen this way too often. I talk with their parents about their child's grades and they respond with something along the lines of, "no problem, he's wanting to play basketball in college." I once had a student ask me if you played football in college would you have to take classes. No joke.

 

As for the bolded part about "moronic parents," I was under the impression the entire thread was more about parents and their failure to understand their unreasonable expectations than it ever was about kids.

[TheDeuce]

So the Doc is right 99.99 something of the time but let's beat him up.

 

Are you hanging your hat on the fact that he said most people don't go pro? Isn't that common knowledge?

 

Most people don't become CEO's of the company they work for. Does that mean people shouldn't work in those fields also?

[MentschTrachtGottLacht]

So the Doc is right 99.99 something of the time but let's beat him up.

 

Why are you so invested in this article / Doctor? I don't get it. If you don't realize that his "right" point was buried under an avalanche of over-generalizations and assumptions, I don't think it is us that can't see the forest for the trees.

[woodsrider]

1 out of 100 gets a scholarship and chances of having a professional career are 1 in 16,000. Chances of winning the Powerball: 1 in 175 million. What's more of a waste of money?

 

And for Pete's sake, I didn't say it was easy. It's just a fact that someone's kid is going pro. No matter what stats you post, someone's kid is going pro.

Power ball will cost you 5 mins and $2. Kids sports can cost you tens of thousands of $ and countless hours with the exact same or worse result as the 5 mins and $2.

[TheDeuce]

I've only tried to say that parents need to be reasonable in their expectations for their children, while encouraging them to develop skills in multiple areas beyond the playing field. Because if 1 and 16,000 are having a professional career in sports, that means 15,999 aren't.

 

And I think everybody that has voiced disagreement with the article agrees with that sentiment as well. The families that put all their eggs in the athletic basket are the minority, and I'm sticking to it...

[gchs_uk9]

The second part of your post simply tells me that you aren't around enough. Grades and ACT scores = money. Money that's available to everyone and not just those with a skill. I'm happy to say I don't run with those parents, whoever they may be.

 

Crash, I teach school. I'm "around enough". Obviously I know grades and ACT scores mean money for college. But too many parents don't understand that or don't want to recognize it. It is foolish and insane.

[MentschTrachtGottLacht]

As a teacher, I've seen this way too often. I talk with their parents about their child's grades and they respond with something along the lines of, "no problem, he's wanting to play basketball in college." I once had a student ask me if you played football in college would you have to take classes. No joke.

 

As for the bolded part about "moronic parents," I was under the impression the entire thread was more about parents and their failure to understand their unreasonable expectations than it ever was about kids.

 

If you have parents that are saying that to you, I hope you're able to get some alone time with them without Johnny in the room to hit them with some reality. Talk about doing your kids a dis-service.

 

I don't think a group of parents having unrealistic expectations for Johnny is ground-breaking stuff. This thread for me has evolved into trying to decipher the tidal-wave of metaphors that Guru has dropped on everyone with dissenting opinions from Indy's favorite ER doctor.

 

Just because we look alike (see Watusi) doesn't mean I can't have some fun with you...right?

[gchs_uk9]

So now we are talking about not pushing kids to be the best they can be in their endeavors? How much sense does it make to tell your kids "Hey, play this sport, but don't try to be too good at it, because then you won't know what to do after it's over."?

 

I definitely believe you should push your child to be the best at anything they do. But they have to be realistic in the fact that making it to the peak of their field is difficult. Too often the parents don't understand that.

[woodsrider]

Why are you so invested in this article / Doctor? I don't get it. If you don't realize that his "right" point was buried under an avalanche of over-generalizations and assumptions, I don't think it is us that can't see the forest for the trees.

You guys buried it there. No where in the article did he say this goes for everyone. He didn't even say it applies to half of everyone. If is applies to 2% of the population then I agree, he off target here. But what if the number is closer to 40%. I think it's alot closer to 40 then it is 2.