Celebrate NATIONAL SPORTSMANSHIP DAY
on March 6
Last week I talked about teaching our children good sportsmanship and all the positive characteristics that could be learned along with them.
Although Tuesday, March 6th is the 21st annual National Sportsmanship Day (NSD), the Hopson Household celebrated it a little early this year, along with our grandchildren.
You see this past weekend was NBA All-Star Weekend. We’re big fans of basketball, including the children, so it’s become a tradition for us to spend the weekend enjoying the events together.
Michael and I let the grandkids (ages 12 and 14) decide on all the fun stuff we’d do. While letting them know that we were there if they needed assistance, we also managed to ease in some valuable lessons and help them work on the following skills:
How to Plan and Make Decisions for a group
They planned the entire weekend; including menus, ingredients for special recipes, grocery lists and activities to serve as time-fillers between NBA TV events.
How to Design Schedules, Establish Deadlines (and stick to them)
Final plans were set for the week before (with adult approval, of course). The kids used calendars and scheduled programming to coordinate events with other necessary activities, like yard work, housework, trips to the barber shop, etc.
How to Encourage Teamwork
The kids determined the necessary tasks and were prepared to assign them; but due to their enthusiasm and encouragement, we all just volunteered.
How to Let Go of Status Quo
By making this year better than last year, the kids dodged complacency and are already stretching themselves by thinking of ways to make next year even better. This develops a great habit for life in general.
How to be Competitive and Keep Fun in the Mix
Since all four of us have different NBA favorites in players and teams, there was a lot of cheering, taunting, and trash-talking. It’s important that children learn how to balance competitive behavior with considerate action, so while viewing the events (and sometimes after the event) Michael and I prompted many discussions in this area, such as:
· The kids’ perceptions of the teamwork (or lack of) that was displayed
· Their perception of individual and team characteristics (confidence, encouragement, determination, competitiveness, selfish/unselfish plays, etc).
· Trash-talking and how it can inspire either inner-determination or create negative reactions.
There are so many strong character traits that can be taught to enhance and inspire our youth just by interacting with them. Use mutual interests and look for subtle ways to teach them through fun and games. Encourage them to not only play as a good sport, but to live their lives as good sports, too.
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