But we continue to add more political pressure to our kids in the classroom and on the ball field? Adults are feeding kids problems, trying to keep up with the Joneses.
“Millions of kids every year are leaving youth sports earlier in life.
We’re spending billions of dollars annually on drugs to ‘support their mental health’.
Pretending like (further) politicizing & pressurizing their school & sport environments is ‘fine’ is irresponsible & dangerous.”
-Ray Zingler on X
We have a tendency to only think about ourselves.
And if we have a good experience, that must mean the model, as a whole, is all fine and dandy!
Have you thought about it from this side of the river, though?
And yes, droves of kids are leaving sports at younger and younger ages (how can you blame them?) and, yes, as far as the money we spend on “supporting” youth mental health annually, that’s billions with a B.
Most problems our kids face, are created, that’s right, created by the very adults who love them.
SAT Prep, ACT Prep, Tutoring, Honors Classes, AP Classes, Academic Clubs.. “You have to do more, more, more, better, better, better.”
“We must go to this lesson and that lesson. Play for this team. No quit this team and play for that team. Wait, there is a showcase. Shit, another one. We need to ‘go up north’ to play tougher competition. Have you heard anything from that coach? Was he even there!?”
And all for what?
To get a few thousand dollars off from an overpriced undifferentiated <insert big state school that 30,000 other people attend> degree, that the modern world doesn’t even care about anymore?
To bastardize a youth sport experience chasing some outcome that isn’t nearly as glorious as you think it is? Dramatically over 99% don’t make it to the Pros, despite your boy’s travel ball coach, “training them like the pros” (I’m still looking for a worse practice for youth athletes.)
You can clearly see, this stuff is exhausting.
Now, try for a second, to wear the hat of a teenager with a frontal lobe that isn’t fully developed.
Is it any wonder our kids are suffering from, stress, anxiety, depression, ADD, ADHD, and many of the other forms of mental disorder at scale the world has never seen?
We like to play make believe, that it’s just coincidence.
It’s not.
It’s cause & effect.
When we put HIGHLY unnecessary politics and pressure on our kids experiences in the classroom and on the ballfield, what you’re seeing is what we get.
This is, unfortunately, playing out exactly to the effect of how adults drew it up.
And it’s up to the mature adult to shift the tide.
