Over the past several weeks I have been playing racquetball with my buddy, Kyle. We seem to be pretty evenly matched, so he wins some and I win some. Today during our last game he got ahead early and stayed that way pretty much the entire time until he won. He won the first game as well after going up about 8-2 to start things off. Now, I'm sure there are certain circumstances and certain people who thrive when they are down. Apparently, I am not one of those people. It's not that I get discouraged when I'm down or that I just throw in the towel. I think that I just spend a lot of energy catching up so that once I get even, it's tough to get over the hump to finish off the victory.
As I was thinking about playing from behind, I started wondering about this in when it comes to our relationships with our spouse and children. As a society, are we constantly playing from behind or are we being proactive and staying ahead in the most important relationships in our life? It seems to me that if we intentionally parent our children early then maybe are children will lean toward making the right choices. Obviously, kids are going to make some bad choices, but aren't their chances of making a good choice better if we've intentionally invested time into teaching them what the correct choice is as well as (and maybe more importantly) how to make the right choice? I think the same goes for our marriages. If we work on our marriage we will be much better equipped to handle disagreements and situations that are stressful. We work hard to stay ahead at our jobs and other things we do in life. Shouldn't we work even harder to stay ahead in these two very important areas of our lives?
What are some of the things we can do to keep from playing from behind in our marriages and with our children?
Thursday, February 17, 2011
Thursday, February 3, 2011
Face Lift
Okay, I've had this blog for a while and I've never really changed the look of it. I don't know much about the behind the scene stuff and I'm not really willing to pay to get a makeover. Therefore you may see various versions of it over the next few days/weeks. If you see something you like, something you don't like, something that you think suits me, or something that doesn't, I would love to see comments letting me know what any readers I have out there think.
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
How Long Will It Last?
There were a few moments last week that Cooper really caught my attention.
Let me set the stage for you. My feet are almost always cold. And we have hardwood floors throughout our house, which doesn't help warm my feet. Since we moved into our new house I have almost always work flip flops around the house. Because I was tired of wearing them around the house, I mentioned wanting a pair of house shoes for my birthday and Allison got some for me.
One day last week I asked Cooper to put his pajamas on and then we were going to do something (I can't remember what we were doing, but that doesn't really matter). He apparently noticed that I had my house shoes on and he, excitedly, said "okay and I want to put my slippers on too!" The next night Cooper asked if we could play when we got home and I told him yes. When we got home he decided that he wanted to color and he went in his room and played on his own. After dinner we told him we had to get a bath. After his bath it was time for bed and sometimes that can be a point of contention. This time, however, it wasn't because he just didn't want to go to bed, although I think that was certainly part of it. Mainly he was upset because we hadn't had a chance to play. He also kept saying, "I just want to spend some time with daddy."
Guys, our kids look up to us. They want to be like us. And they want to be with us. Today we are pulled in a million different directions. Some of them in our control, some of them out of our control. If you work, work pulls you. If you are involved in your church, church pulls you. If you are married, your marriage pulls you. Then on top of that we have other things that we allow to pull us; Facebook, Twitter, blogs, ESPN, etc., etc., etc... These things aren't necessarily bad, in fact many of them are great and/or necessary. If I don't work on my marriage and spend valuable time with Allison how am I supposed to model how to treat your wife to Cooper. If I don't get up and go to work how am I supposed to instill a good work ethic in Cooper. If I don't... you get the point.
All this to say, as guys we have to do a better job of making time for our kids. Whether it's playing football outside, playing legos inside, or simply watching another episode of Dora the Explorer, we have to be available and fully plugged in with our kids. I am trying my best to be conscious of this because I know, one day, Cooper isn't going to want me to sit down and play or watch a show with him.
Let me set the stage for you. My feet are almost always cold. And we have hardwood floors throughout our house, which doesn't help warm my feet. Since we moved into our new house I have almost always work flip flops around the house. Because I was tired of wearing them around the house, I mentioned wanting a pair of house shoes for my birthday and Allison got some for me.
One day last week I asked Cooper to put his pajamas on and then we were going to do something (I can't remember what we were doing, but that doesn't really matter). He apparently noticed that I had my house shoes on and he, excitedly, said "okay and I want to put my slippers on too!" The next night Cooper asked if we could play when we got home and I told him yes. When we got home he decided that he wanted to color and he went in his room and played on his own. After dinner we told him we had to get a bath. After his bath it was time for bed and sometimes that can be a point of contention. This time, however, it wasn't because he just didn't want to go to bed, although I think that was certainly part of it. Mainly he was upset because we hadn't had a chance to play. He also kept saying, "I just want to spend some time with daddy."
Guys, our kids look up to us. They want to be like us. And they want to be with us. Today we are pulled in a million different directions. Some of them in our control, some of them out of our control. If you work, work pulls you. If you are involved in your church, church pulls you. If you are married, your marriage pulls you. Then on top of that we have other things that we allow to pull us; Facebook, Twitter, blogs, ESPN, etc., etc., etc... These things aren't necessarily bad, in fact many of them are great and/or necessary. If I don't work on my marriage and spend valuable time with Allison how am I supposed to model how to treat your wife to Cooper. If I don't get up and go to work how am I supposed to instill a good work ethic in Cooper. If I don't... you get the point.
All this to say, as guys we have to do a better job of making time for our kids. Whether it's playing football outside, playing legos inside, or simply watching another episode of Dora the Explorer, we have to be available and fully plugged in with our kids. I am trying my best to be conscious of this because I know, one day, Cooper isn't going to want me to sit down and play or watch a show with him.
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