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How Parenting is like Football

January 5, 2011 By 2 Comments

Parenting is like footballTonight I was washing dishes while listening to Daft Punk. It was a big job and I needed some motivational music. I started to think about the abysmal season that just ended for the 49ers, culminating with the firing of their head coach, Mike Singletary. Then, I started thinking about how parenting is like football and this is what I came up with.

1. Football can be brutal. In football there are collisions, bruises, injuries and a lot of pain. In a similar fashion parenting can leave us pretty beat up, emotionally that is. It is a part of the job description. The question is how do we recover, heal and move on to the next challenge?

2. You can always start over. After a major loss or setback, there is always next week’s game or certainly the hope of next season (Insert prayer for the 49ers). As parents, we can always start over. We can apologize, fix our mistakes, ask for help and continue to improve as the imperfect people that we are.

3. Keep changing your plays, but have a solid game plan. Strong offense, strong defense and ever changing plays. As parents we have to be flexible and continually adjusting our approach to our changing children. The game plan that stays the same is our consistent love, support and firm limits.

4. Good coaches are important. A good coach can be the success or failure of the team. In one sense, you are the coach (leader) of your family. Of course, keeping in mind the important roles of our spouses or significant others. You are key to the success of your family. You also need good coaches in the form of trusted friends and family, good books and a therapist if necessary.

5. You have to play until the end. Many games are won or lost in the final minutes and even seconds of play. Sometimes it is about making it through the end of a rough day and sometimes it is trying to survive a difficult season in your child’s life. As parents, our jobs are never finished, though our roles change with time. We continue to parent through adolescence, young adulthood and into adult relationships with our kids. Always providing support and wisdom.

What do you think? Does the analogy work? I am interested to hear your input about the victories and losses in the game of parenting.

Photo credit: familymwr

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Filed Under: Kids, Parenting, Teens, Tips Tagged With: , , ,
About Uriah Guilford

I am a child and teen counselor and I focus on working with boys. I use my specialized training along with humor to help my clients learn and grow.

  • MKMDeveaux

    I am always interested in analogies and where they are spot on and where they break down, as it is a tool I use everyday in my business as well!
    May I be so bold as to engage some of your thoughts?
    On point 2, how would the analogy hold through knowing that even a series of losses will end you up out of the post-season? Could it be that the analogy be taken further? When we (as parents) are consistently making poor choices, bad plays, and allowing the team to fail, when children become adults (the post-season if you will), will they use it to develop better game strategy, or do the sit on their laurels and continue to fail?
    On point 4, May I suggest that the primary care giver is the quarterback rather than coach? I would say that our friends, influences, faith (if it is there), parenting resources could be the coach, and the primary executioner under pressure would be the quarterback. They are the ones on the front lines, having to make the decisions in the moment, even though they have others around them preparing them for such decisions?
    I want to say that I really like number 5. SO many people give up right at the last minute. In my field, the analogy best used is “It’s not over till the fat lady sings!”
    Thanks for the opportunity to comment, your thoughts appreciated too.

    • Anonymous

      Great questions Michelle. Thanks for the comment.

      I can definitely agree with you on the caregiver being the quarterback (even though they barely call their own plays anymore) as opposed to the coach. As children grow up, I think the coach analogy is more fitting.

      While there are crucial errors we can make as parents, there is usually always opportunity for repair and healing. “Never give up” is not a bad motto. Though a righteous parent falls seven times . . . :)