Participation Medals

In the second last week of term, Matthew's Sports Day took place.  Unfortunately, I wasn't able to go so he went with a friend and her son.  Andrew and I had prepared the classic 'it's not the winning...' speech and were completely unprepared for Matthew to romp home with 2 first place medals and 2 second place medals! 

One of the reasons that he did so well was that the boy who won most of the practice races appeared to develop stage fright on the day.  It never occurred to me that a child would suddenly get stressed on the day and choose not to take part at all!  Apparently Sports Day is very overwhelming for some kids, at least according to one of the mums I spoke to.  Her little boy also felt unable to take part when he was in Junior Infants. It was a new experience and he just found it too daunting.  Initially I wondered if I had been a very callous parent, blithely shipping off my child to this big new experience without parental support or without even asking him if he was nervous!  Evidence suggested, however, that he had thoroughly enjoyed himself and risen to the occasion. So much so that after falling over during the sack race he still went on to win it!

Ok, enough boasting about my son's sporting talents...

The conversation with this lady then continued and the subject of the 'participation medals' came up.  The youngest class gets participation medals for their very first Sports Day, which is kind of nice.  On her son's race day, just before the last race, the school principal approached this Mum and her son and said that if he didn't at least line up for the last race, he wouldn't get a participation medal.  That seemed fair enough to me, but the lady to whom I was talking was quite outraged by this and felt it was unfair to her son. At this point I should say that I have a lot of time for this lady and we would have a certain amount of views and opinions in common. But I absolutely can't understand where she is coming from on this! You allow your son not to participate and then get cross when he doesn't get a participation medal? Please tell me I am not alone in finding this bonkers!

The ecards picture above does have a good point - how is a child with this experience going to cope with life in 20 years from now, for example when starting a new job? They are being given permission to opt out of things that  are new or unfamiliar, which are of course going to continue to be part of life.

A recent parenting course I did made me realise what a long term game parenting is.  It's so easy to get caught up with the daily whirl of lunchoxes, doctors visits and laundry that you can lose sight of the big picture - ultimately we are aiming for our kids to become healthy adults who will, amongst other things,  succeed in job interviews, have good relationships and be equipped to face the issues that life will throw at them. Equipping them needs to start now!  I can understand the maternal instinct to protect a sensitive child, but ultimately allowing the child to opt out is surely doing them a disservice in the long run. 'Run' being that all that the kids really had to do to begin with to get that medal...

Gold

Katie Taylor got gold today at the Olympics!  If you had told me I would get excited about boxing one day, I would not have believed you!  But in this case, I was really excited...
I taught Katie for 6 months in my first job in Ireland - as her French teacher in St Killian's school in Bray. I was told there was a boxer in my class, who also played football for Ireland.  I certainly didn't expect the quiet and hard working girl at the side of the room to be that girl!  The dedication needed to get to the top and stay there for 4 consecutive world championships was already evident in her approach to her school work - she was always at the top of the class.  This was partly ability, but certainly also pure hard work. 

I don't necessarily like seeing 2 women punching each other, but it's exciting to see someone with whom you have had a connection go on to achieve an Olympic gold medal. It's great to see such an inspiring young woman with such a strong faith be the best at what she can be and choose to give God the glory at every step.

I hope she can cling to this with the offers that will come pouring in and the media attention.  She seems to be so well grounded that I feel she is well equipped to stand up for what she believes in and stay true to herself. Time will tell - for now: gold for Katie and the whole country is so proud and exhilarated!

Olympic Fever

Haven't posted for a few days. I said I would blog about things as they come on the radio or appear as topics of conversation.  There has really only been 1 topic in the last week: London 2012! It has been so exciting to be so close to the action - and I say that from a country away!  But the buzz has been tangible, even over here.  

It's a bit weird that people like me, who aren't really that sports mad, get so caught up in the Olympics. I like the statistical side of it, if that's the best way to put it: the flags, the countries, the medal table, the world records. The actual sport: only some of it!  Who doesn't like the athletics?

Matthew has always loved sports - since he was 2 he could name all the F1 drivers and sit through a whole race.  He loves golf, football, rugby.... he will pretty much watch anything! But what is exciting is that he is not just slumped in front of the tv, but leaning forward, avidly taking in all the rules, players names, the atmosphere... It has been great to see this passion growing in him and the Olympics has come at the perfect time for this bright and interested 5 year old! (ok, bit of parental bias showing there!) It has been brilliant to see him process it all and have him come tearing into the kitchen to tell me the score between Uruguay and the UAE!  We have a big poster with flags in the kitchen which has been consulted earnestly as unknown countries take part in random sports.And, best of all, it is inspiring both of them to activity. The final whistle from  a hockey match had barely gone yesterday when Matthew tore out to the shed to get his golf club and a ball.  It was the closest he could find to a hockey stick and he looped all over the garden in his best hockey imitation.

Both boys are really excited about the whole thing! So much so that I thought the punishment of  not being allowed to watch any Olympics on Saturday was sufficient deterrent for Adam to sort out his behaviour on Friday. Sadly, no... as he was just having a rotten day.  So that was tricky and made Saturday a bit painful!  But it did give him the message that the Olympics is special and exciting!

The picture above shows that we have really entered into the spirit of things! We are all learning loads and I am enjoying watching the Olympics through their eyes even more than I ever enjoyed it for myself!

The Olympic slogan for 2012 is: Inspire a generation. Seb Coe, my boys are inspired - thank you!