#DadsAsPrincipals - After-School

I’m not saying it’s the way, but it’s my way.

Since the start of Tiny Tot (insert name of sport, here), I’ve always volunteered to help coach my children’s athletic activities. (See the blog post that I wrote, previously, #DadsAsPrincipals - #DadsAsCoaches) I’ll continue to do it as long as he keeps asking me.

So this fall, my son, who just turned eight, has been busy. As a result, we’ve been busy. During one particular week, we had a football game, two football practices, a baseball game, and a basketball practice. That makes for a busy week. Throw in the 40++ hour work weeks that my wife and I both work, plus our daughter’s dance and gymnastics classes, and it makes for a crazy week.

My wife isn’t always thrilled about our schedule of events, Monday through Friday. And I can’t say that I blame her. After a long day at work, sometimes you just want to get home and be home.

Nonetheless, I love it. I love having something that forces me to leave work at a decent hour. I love having something to do, something (practice or a game) to fully engage-in after work that allows my mind to completely detach from the day-to-day stresses of the job. It allows me to focus on the present; it allows me to Be There.

I love sports, and coaching is why I, initially, got into education. Sports are a great opportunity to teach character education; building character through sports is quite possibly my favorite thing about them. Plus, I love working with kids. I love helping kids.

Being able to watch kids learn and grow in areas that they are willing to commit and enjoy is a pretty neat thing to witness. It’s even neater knowing that you possibly played a role in contributing to that development. And it’s a bond with my son. That’s my favorite part.

There is no blueprint for balance. It’s personal. What can you handle? What can you live with? No...it’s more than that; much more. What makes you happy? Do that. Even if/when it’s unconventional, because like my daughter says...

The Lessons Your Children Will Learn

My friend and fellow #DadsAsPrincipals leader, Todd Schmidt posed the following question on Twitter: What is one lesson you hope your children learn from your example?

This stemmed from audio captured from Drew Brees, New Orleans Saints quarterback, telling his sons, "You can accomplish anything in life if you're willing to work for it." These words were spoken after Brees had just passed Peyton Manning as the NFL’s all-time leading passer.

Recently, on a Monday night, I had just sat down. I turned on ESPN to the Monday Night Football game for a little white noise while I was about to do some work. It just so happened that as I tuned-in, the Brees family (his wife and four children) appeared on the screen as they were being escorted down the sideline in preparation for the record being broken. Immediately afterwards, Brees hit a receiver down the sideline to set the record. History.

I loved this for two reasons. 1) To think about everything that went into that moment being possible is amazing. All of the preparation, and all of the work. Everything. That one moment is the product of a countless number of parts to make that accomplishment possible. And 2) To see his family, on the field, to share that moment with him was special. What I want more than anything from this life is to make MY FAMILY proud of me and the work that I do. It was evident, on Monday night, that Brees had my made his family proud.

So...back to Todd’s question that he posed. What’s the one thing that I hope my children learn from my example? It’s hard to pick just one. Too hard. There were so many great examples from many people that I admire and respect on Twitter. I’ve been stuck here for almost two weeks. Ready to hit publish, but not having my one lesson identified.

How am I supposed to pick just one? I can't. I have three. Attitude. Love. And Persistence. They’re all three essential lesson that I must pass along to my children. They’re all three essential things that are interrelated to one another. I hope that I am a model of these things for my children to witness. I hope that I engage my children in conversations about the value of these things. I hope that my children persist, love, and embody an attitude that allows them to be happy and successful individuals.

Contradictory Information

There's a lot of information out there. As a result, there is a lot of contradictory information out there. To steal a phrase from Nate Silver, how do you distinguish between the Signal and the Noise?

I was attending an educational conference, recently, when this thought first crept into my head. Then, while listening to a couple of podcasts, in the days that followed, that thought was only solidified.

Our minds are fed with so much information. We read things, we listen to things, we experience things. And those things are individualized, they are different for all of us. So how do you know what to believe? How do you know who is right?

I'm not always sure what's right and/or who is right. I know that I'm not always right. But I know what I value, and I know what I think. And I'd like to think that my values and thoughts continue to evolve over time alongside my learning and my experiences.

It's like Maya Angelou said,

"When you know better...You do better."

We don't have to be lock-step with our beliefs and/or thoughts; in fact, I wouldn't expect it. But I hope you'll keep an open mind and be considerate of all beliefs and thoughts. Let's stop thinking about things as either right or wrong, and instead just accept them for what they are; nothing more, nothing less. Let's ask more questions, and make less judgments. Let's be confident and strong enough to engage in healthy debate, and really listen to the other side. Let's assume positive intent.

So maybe we shouldn't perceive any of this to be contradictory information that's being presented to us. Maybe it's just a continuum of ideas, all based off of our own, individual experiences. None of which are right or wrong, depending on our individual circumstances and experiences.

This post has stalled as a draft for a couple of weeks. I was unable to find the right words for how I wanted it to conclude. But this morning, while consuming more information, someone else spoke the thoughts that had been giving me writer's block. I found what I'd been searching for on Don Wettrick's StartEdUp podcast; thanks for sharing!

"No matter what you do in life, you should be a life long learner. I pride myself on learning and challenging myself to either read books, go to conferences, go on podcasts, listen to podcasts. Life is about evolving, and I reserve the right to change my opinion if I find out more information." - Gary Brackett, former Super Bowl Champion