Competitive Parenting

I was catching up on my Sports Illustrated reading yesterday and found Rick Reilly’s Piece, The Parent Trap, to be a wonderful read and extremely thought provoking. He makes this statement about what he learned from his neighbor, whose life is being taken over by his kid’s sports commitments, “I learned that the most viciously competitive sport in the world is parenting.”

In the context of this article the neighbor starts complaining about how he needs to get “performance-enhancement specialists” for his kids!

These two thoughts have led me to this thought. Since parenting is the most viciously competitive sport and the hardest, but potentially the most rewarding thing you’ll do in life, why don’t more parents see youth ministries and youth pastors and “heart-enhancement specialists” for their kids? Why will families pay big bucks for athletic performance and neglect the performance of their children’s hearts by allowing on a consistent basis their children to "skip" church?

Sure we want our kids to thank us for everything, but included in that thanks must be a grateful heart towards what we did to proactively shape their spiritual lives.

I want to be part of a youth ministry that is taking the most viciously competitive sport and screaming from the sidelines, “We’re here! We’re right here walking alongside of you, behind you and in front of you as you compete. We’re teaching the Word of God when you drop your kids off! We’re making prayer a priority! We’re encouraging your students to develop and intimate love for God and others! We're working hard at making a difference in the school system and our community. And most importantly, we want you to know that because you’re going to stand before God and answer for what you did to spiritually train your kids, we’re here to serve you!”