Sunday we were headed home form a softball tournament and a
young man in his 20’s gave my husband the finger and called me a name. We have no idea what we did to deserve this
and it would be so easy to say, “These kids today have no respect”. However, before I could judge him I
remembered what had happened earlier that day.
While at the tournament a man
with a daughter the same age as my daughter stood behind outfield fence and
yelled at my daughter as a ball was hit to her.
He said, "You have no skill, you won't catch that" along with
a few other things. Really, with
examples like that on how to treat others it is obvious to me why kids act the
way they do.
The next game the coach on the other team corrected his
player but rather than build her up he was rude and told her to learn to play
the game in the rudest voice. My heart
ached for that girl who was giving her best in the heat and who was on game 3
for the day. The same coach would
later inform another player the next time the situation that just took place on
the field happens again to lay the other player out! That “other player” happened to be my
daughter. The umpire walked very calmly
over to the coach and told him there was not need to talk like that.
In a matter of 2 hours my daughter was told she had no
skill, and heard another coach tell his player to lay her out. (Both were
adults, both fathers, both were setting examples to those around them) We get angry how the youth of today act and I
can't help but think it is a reflection of how we as adults act. We need to look in the mirror at ourselves
before we judge the younger generation.
We need to stop this "do as I say not as do mentality". We are the roots of the problem. Our children learn by example. The examples I saw in a matter of hours break
my heart as a mom. Not sure why that
young man was so mad at us that it would lead to his middle finger flying at my
husband and the name he called me but, I would bet he was only doing what was
shown to him as an example of how to treat others.
My daughter caught that ball and made the out!! She turned
to the man and pointed at her glove to show him she made the catch despite him
yelling at her that she had no skill.
She than told my husband and I she was sorry if she was disrespectful to
him to do that. My daughter stood up for
herself against the outright disrespect shown to her and was worried she may
have disrespectful to the man who showed her no respect. I rest my case the problem is not the youth
of today. The problem is the adults of
today that have created this mess and we blame it on our kids.
We need to remember who is watching us and we need to choose
our words wisely. No more do as I say
and not as I do. It needs to be do as I
say and do as I do because I am teaching you respect for yourself and others.
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