We don’t stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing.
George Bernard Shaw
This week’s contribution to the 52 Photos Project.
Browsing Category
Motherhood
This moment reminds me to hold on to my precious little man because one day he won’t be so little. One day he’ll be too embarrassed to be caught walking around holding his mom’s hand. So for now, I’ll take all the holding of little hands I can get.
This week I’m trying to get back in the groove of the 52 Photos Project after several weeks away.
IF
If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too:
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or, being lied about, don’t deal in lies,
Or being hated don’t give way to hating,
And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise;
If you can dream—and not make dreams your master;
If you can think—and not make thoughts your aim,
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same:.
If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build’em up with worn-out tools;
If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings,
And never breathe a word about your loss:
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: “Hold on!”
If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with Kings—nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much:
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,
And—which is more—you’ll be a Man, my son!
// Rudyard Kipling
There’s nothing like the Olympics, and now Paralympics, to motivate you to get off the sofa and get involved in sport. Watching all the young and not so young athletes in top physical condition excel at their sport, it’s inspiring. And the question on many people’s lips now is how do we inspire the next generation of athletes?
For me the answer is simple, it starts with parents encouraging their kids to get involved with sport. About parents understanding the benefits that kids get from sport and finding opportunities for their kids to participate. Maybe those sports are at school, maybe they’re at community centers and sports clubs. But you don’t have to look any further than the Olympics to see that there are sports to fit virtually every size, shape, and skill-set imaginable. Every kid does not have to play football, especially if they don’t like it.
I don’t consider myself a really sporty person. But I’ve played a number of sports and I’ve challenged myself to do various races and competitions. Track and field, softball, volleyball, tennis, running, cycling, american football, skiing, golf, swimming. I was never any good at any of them, but I tried. I was part of a team. I won. I lost. I fell down. I got back up.
And that’s what I want for my son. I want to find opportunities for him to try as many sports as possible and get involved. Some sports he’ll like, some he won’t. Some he’ll be good at, some he won’t. But eventually, HE’LL choose what he wants to stick with and I don’t think I should let my likes and dislikes get in his way. I don’t particularly like playing golf but maybe he’ll try it and that will be THE thing he loves. Should I say no you can’t play golf because I don’t like it? No, that’s just me projecting my opinion onto my child who is in fact an independent human being with his own ideas. He needs to find his own passion, not be forced into pursuing mine.
Why do I think sport is so important for kids? Every kid won’t make it to the Olympics, in fact most kids won’t. But participating in sports at any level builds character. Right now my son takes swimming and football lessons. And even at this early age there are things I see when I watch him and the other kids in class, things that I know translate into skills for almost any aspect of life.
- Physical activity. It’s no secret that childhood obesity is on the rise. Getting them out from behind the TV, the video game, or the computer and developing an exercise habit is a good thing.
- Discipline. Right now, my son is learning to listen to authority figures and take and follow instructions. In football, coach no longer lets us parents sit with our kids on the bench forcing them to pay attention to her direction. And they do. Later, he’ll learn that wanting to achieve in sport will mean having the discipline to practice.
- Teamwork. At my son’s age, he’s just learning to play with other kids. But learning to work with others, play as part of a team, and work toward a common goal, you don’t have to be an elite athlete to use this skill on a regular basis.
- Self-confidence. I’ve watched my son’s swimming classmate become so self-confident that she now fearlessly leaps off the side and into the pool. I can’t wait to see what she’ll have the confidence to do next.
- Achievement. When my son gets his little hand stamp at the end of football class or swims the length of the pool to reach me, I can see in his little face the sense of accomplishment. Even now, he understands how good it feels to work hard to achieve a goal.
- Losing. Winning is not everything and everyone does not get a prize. To me, even just being at the Olympics competing is an amazing achievement in my book, medal or no medal. Learning to accept that sometimes things in life will be difficult is important. Life is not all rainbows and unicorns.
- Respect. Sportsmanship means learning to lose and win with dignity. It means showing respect for others on the field and thus in life.
- Fun.
The UK government is investing £1bn in sports programs to solidify its Olympic legacy. And, this is great. But, I didn’t hear many athletes thanking the government for their success. Instead, I heard story after story of athletes who were thankful for parents that encouraged and supported them as they pursued their dream.
Will you be inspired to get your kid involved in sport? He’ll thank you for it later.
Potty training is one of those things that I knew as a parent I’d have to tackle but that, honestly, I’d been living in fear of. Am I alone in this? We’ve just been happily rolling along in nappies, why not just keep that up as long as possible? I just did not want to face it. I kept putting it off, saying we’d give it a go when the little man got out of school and was on summer break.
Well, summer break came and I was like OMG, I have no more excuses. We’ve had a potty around the house and used it a few times so he did at least know it existed. But, I didn’t really have a plan, hadn’t read any books, I just knew it had to get done.
Then one day a few weeks ago the weather was just bloody miserable and we had no plans to go anywhere so I decided, out of the blue, to give potty training a try. I mean if you’re going to be hunkered down in the house avoiding the rain, you might as well try to do something productive. So in a way, I’m actually thankful that we had such a long stretch of miserable rainy weather.
We’ve been at it now for a few weeks and like everything else I’m afraid of doing, it hasn’t been nearly as bad as I imagined. Yes, we had a number of accidents in the first few days, but I think we’ve worked through that now. I no longer live in fear of taking him nappy free outside the house. And I no longer carry Dettol wipes and paper towels in my handbag.
And I have to admit, I do feel a bit of freedom with a boy. Because in those emergency situations, let’s face it, it’s pretty darn easy to find a bush in the corner and do a “farmer wee.”
What’s Worked for Us
- Choose a time when you’re happy to be homebound for a few days.
- Read them some books that talk about potty training. Our favorite was Pirate Pete’s Potty.
- Make it entertaining. We went to the shop to pick out fancy underpants. I also had a reward chart where he collected stickers for all the wees and poos that made it into the potty. There was a trip to the toy shop and a matchbox car at the end. We also tried sinking Cheerios in the toilet.
- Be diligent about reminding them to go. All of the more recent accidents we’ve had have been because I stopped paying attention, was distracted by something else. I’d love to say that he consistently takes himself when he needs to go but he doesn’t yet. But as long as I regularly encourage him to go we’re golden.
- Go cold turkey, except for nights. I think nothing motivates a child to go to learn to go the potty than wet pants and underwear full of poo.
- Most of all, be supportive and encouraging because this is more of a challenge for them than it is for you.
Have you been afraid to face potty training? What’s worked for you?