Saint George Spectrum 09/21/2013 Page : D01
Copyright © 2013 The Spectrum.


I talked to a very nice, very
harried couple the other day.
We chatted about the weather,
beautiful mountains and friendly
people in Southern Utah. When
they learned that I’d raised a
whole bunch of children, including
teenagers, they started
telling me about their 15-year-old
daughter. She was a talented
athlete who played sports year
round. Driving her to practices
and games kept them going six
or seven days a week.
I listened sympathetically for
quite awhile but became less
sympathetic when I realized
they lived about half of a mile
from the high school where all
the practices took place. I started
thinking, “What’s up with this
kid being driven everywhere?”
To me, it makes no sense for a
healthy, young person to be
driven a half mile when she
spends an hour or two running
around a field to build skills and
muscle mass. Why not include
the walk to and from practice as
part of the conditioning?
I know it’s essential for parents
to attend games — kids
need such loving support. Watching
practices can be entertaining
and greatly satisfying, and I’m
certainly not suggesting that
parents deprive themselves of
entertainment and satisfaction.
However, I believe children
who want to participate in
sports, music, drama and other
activities should take responsibility
to get themselves to and
from practices and rehearsals.
Many of today’s moms and
dads infantilize their children —
they fail to provide their children
with the teaching necessary
for them to mature into healthy,
happy adults. I’ve addressed this
topic before, but it bears repeating,
especially now that school is
in full swing.
I used to think doing everything
for my children demonstrated
how much I loved them.
It’s instinctive for moms to provide
food, snuggles and protection
for their babies. Babies
come into the world as the most
helpless of creatures. Without
nurturing mothers, babies
wouldn’t survive.
Unfortunately, the urge to do
everything, including spoon
feeding, can last far too long.
While mothers will likely never
get over the desire to feed and
protect your child, their main
task is to work themselves out of
a job. Parents must teach your
children the skills they need to
become self-supporting and
function in society.
The parents who complained
to me about their lives being run
by an ungrateful daughter were
talking to the wrong person.
They should have had a clear
conversation with their child and
discussed the actions she could
take to get herself where she
wanted to be. She could walk,
run, ride a bicycle or car pool
with others on her team (if any
other parents were silly enough
to drive their kids a few blocks).
Contact Corrie Lynne Player
at heavenhelpusbeourbest@
gmail.com.
Corrie
Lynne
Player
Heaven Help Us
Good
moms
aren’t
cowards