I have read countless posts over the years on this site that always have me coming back to these thoughts. I have seen so many instances as a coach over the years that mirror many of the posts I have read on this site. As a parent of two son's who both played baseball in HS. And the parent of a son who played and now coaches college baseball I want to offer up these thoughts. Maybe some of you will get something from this post that will help you along this journey. I suspect many will echo much of what I post in their own experiences.
We love our son's. For some reason our kids love the game of baseball. It really doesn't matter why they just do. As parents we want our kids to do well at what they love. We want them to have success and be happy. They have dreams in this game. We want them to achieve those dreams. It's very important to them so its very important to us. When things are not going well for them and they are hurting we hurt right along with them. When they are in a slump we slump. When they make an error we cringe. When the struggles of the game come we struggle right along with them. When they stress we stress. And when they have those great moments and that big ole smile is on their face we are smiling right along with them. It's their ride but make no mistake we are on it with them.
There is this desire when things are not going as they think it should or we think it should to step in and make it right. To fix it. To manipulate the situation. To make it right for them. Of course this is normal. We love our kids and we are going to do what ever we have to do to help them. We fail in many instances to understand that when we take them out of the fire the steel can not be forged. When we see challenges and adversity as the enemy instead of the fire forging the steel we miss out of watching the most wonderful part of this journey.
Those tough times can either be the gut wrenching dark days of this journey. Or they can be the most rewarding of the entire ride. When you watch your son rise from the ashes, refuse to give up, refuse to give in, fight for what he wants, overcome obstacles nothing will rival it. Nothing. Allow the fire in your son's life. In fact embrace it. Teach him to embrace it. When you remove the fire, quench the fire, excuse away the fire, curse the fire you are not helping him. Your taking away the most important lesson that this journey will teach him. Good luck to all your young players. Its a beautiful thing to see when its allowed to happen.