Sports
Dear Doctor,
We have a problem with our twelve year old who would rather sit at home during the spring and not do any team sports.
This might be OK except he is a really good athlete and has done well in the past. He has no problem getting along with other kids. He would be content to chill in front of the TV.
Jock Mom
Dear Jock,
Let’s discuss how a parent becomes devious.
You need for your son to become active. He needs to be active. The team needs him. Here’s a little secret. Try the forced choice method. This method works on this wise.
You never say, "You need to be active and doing something". Instead, you opine that he has a "choice" as to which sport he might like to do. You then offer him a "choice".
He may chose between perhaps soccer and baseball. As a practicing devious parent, you may know he dislikes soccer and loves baseball or vice versa.
The "choice" is obviously non-existent, but who is going to tell him that. If he says, as rarely happens, "I don’t want to do either one of them", you feign shock and reply, "Oh, no, the rule is we all have to do something". Who made the rule? You did. But you are not going to tell him that either!
Finer tuning in the method requires including some real bummer sports, possibly tiddlywinks or something like that. Occasionally the method backfires, but it usually succeeds.
The price of being a parent is to think outside the box in order to box in the kid.
Tags: choice method, kid sports, mom, soccer, team sports
Leave a Comment