Children. They didn’t bargain for this did they? Everything that they thought was normal was turned upside down and they were forced to adapt to a new kind of normal.
I remember being lost and angry and asking myself how I was going to handle parenting in this new normal and I can honestly say that the activitythat taught me the most and that had the most positive affect on my relationship with my children was coaching. I ended up coaching all three of my children in baseball, basketball and football. I grew to love it so much that I still coach tackle football and continue to be the attorney for the football organization after my children aged out of the league. I am also the Player Safety Coach and Heads Up Football representative for the organization.
I can say that without reservation that coaching saved me. It provided me time with my children that I will never get back. It gifted me time to contribute to my children and other peoples’ children. Coaching made me examine how I related to my children. It gave me insight into who my children were outside of my home and how they acted at school, with friends, with authority figures. Coaching brought me closer to my children and taught me to respect all of them in a manner that I could have never imagined as a parental spectator. I became a participant in their lives. I am closer to all of them for my experience. Coaching was a gift.
If you are a parent and your teeth grind in frustration about custody time and you want to spend more time with your children, then coach them. Coaching children is an investment in their lives. It is a legal method of spending more time with your children which will look fantastic in Court. Know this – children will soon forget who gives them things after the shiny new thing loses its lustre. They will never ever forget the investment in their lives and they will carry those memories forever. Invest your time. Coach.
I promise that will get more into the weeds on this subject.
