What parents can learn from Tiger Woods

The single-minded pursuit of a parent to make her/his child a superstar in anything usually leads to the parent neglecting other aspects of a child's life.

Excelling at sports and/or becoming a multi-millionaire won't make the child happy or a good person. It means only that the child is good at playing a game and has a lot of money. Neither one of those guarantee that the child will be a good person and a responsible adult, or even that the child will be "happy".

So, spend some time educating your child about "the things most important in life"--which does not include how to hit or throw a rise ball.

Right on, Ray! Most sports careers end either by the age of 18 or 22. It's a privileged few who go on beyond that. But the life lessons they learn from their parents follow them their entire lives. For better or for worse.

sluggers said:

Neither one of those guarantee that the child will be a good person and a responsible adult, or even that the child will be "happy".

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Couldnt agree more. But even most people arent "happy", not really. They are in the "rat race" and the problem with that is you first have to be a rat. I personally have a lot of respect for people the step outside the normal ways of living, raising kids, and do it their way. Live on a boat, raise your kids while sailing the world, etc. We have all been brainwashed that we have to do things the "standard" way, and its not true. Most dont consider that there are even other options out there. Life is to be lived, we are all only here for a short time. Sadly, we all spend too much of our lives working hard, especially in the United States. In some ways, other countries spend more time living than we do. 35hr workweeks in france, they live in apartments mostly, dont spend all their time maintaining houses and yards, and will shut down their businesses for 1 month in summer and just go on holiday. Never see someone close their business for a month here in US, $$ is too important.

But, more to the point, 95% of happiness is determined by who you marry. What does the divorce rate reflect about our society?

I guess my point is that many problems arent exclusive to athletes, we have a lot of pervasive problems as a society that work against you. Counsel you kids on what really matters in life and that that should come first. Go chasing $$ after that.

I agree that there are other things in life aside from sports, and there are many sports to experience, but I don't really get that lesson from the Tiger Woods story.

I understand the point you're making but I don't understand how you can conclude Tiger Woods wasn't taught the other things in life because of the mess he chose to get himself in. He's a grown man who made silly choices. You can't know enough about what his parents did or didn't do to blame them for his issues. There are good parents in the world who thought they did what was right only to watch their children make bad choices. This doesn't just happen to pro athletes or child TV stars. It's just that they get the most publicity for it.

To me the lesson is instilling character is more important than instilling skills or knowledge.

I'm not sure you can learn anything from Tiger's travails. Perhaps he wasn't allowed to grow up. Perhaps he's a sexual addict. Perhaps, he doesn't choose to be happy with a beautiful wife and children.He's obviously a type "A" personality. Maybe, it's his nature to look for bigger challenges. On a golf course he has a will of steel. I guess that doesn't necessarily translate to one's personal life.