A Tale of Two Dads
In the last couple months, there have been two high profile instances involving dads pulling their son’s away from a team. The most recent incident involved LaVar Ball (click here to learn more) removing his son LaMelo from High School to be home schooled and focus on basketball. The decision to withdraw LaMelo from school was a result of friction between the Head Basketball Coach and what LaVar deemed as an unsuitable environment for LaMelo to grow as a basketball player destined for UCLA and possibly the pros. For the time being, this junior in high school will no longer be a pupil of his father’s for just basketball, but also English, Math & History.
The other instance involved a member of the NFL Hall of Fame, Keyshawn Johnson, whose son, Keyshawn Johnson, Jr, is/was a highly talented Freshman at the University of Nebraska. Near the beginning of the season, Junior was involved in an incident involving marijuana (click to learn more) and as a result of that incident, his father hopped on a plane and brought Junior home to California. Needless to say, Junior’s college football career was put on hold, however, he looks to be back for the Spring Semester.
Here we have two instances where father’s removed their son’s from a team. The first scenario involving LaMelo Ball resembles today’s culture of ‘My kids’s a superstar, it must be the coaches fault’. The second scenario with Keyshawn Johnson, Jr., resembles one of tough love. I can’t commend Keyshawn Johnson, Sr., enough for the message he is sending his son. After listening to Kesyshan Sr, explain why he decided to remove Junior from school, i personally felt his reasoning was admirable, however, I also feel that his decision would not be made by a majority of parents in a similar position. Being a parent is not a popularity contest, the goal is to provide your children with life lessons they can apply and have success themselves as well as pass along those same lessons to their children so they, too, can have success. I am 100% certain, Keyshawn Johnson, Jr, will turn out to be a better young man because his father cared enough to show him right from wrong, regardless of the situation.
“Sometimes you need to take a step back before you can go forward #GBR.”
-Keyshawn Johnson
In twenty, thirty, fifty years from now, what kind of person will LaMelo turn out to be? Will the constant reminder, “You’re the best!” or “It’s not your fault, your coach should be doing it differently,” be, too much to overcome and provide LaMelo a one-way ticket to IT’S ALL ABOUT ME WORLD? All i know about LaMelo is what I see on TV, however, he’s still a kid and kids are impressionable. I hope LaMelo can understand what is taking place as he grows older, however, standing up to a father who has made a living off spewing greatness of his sons will not be an easy task, but stranger things have happened.
What kind of parent are you? What will your children remember about their childhood and teach their kids?
I prefer to be in the Keyshawn camp, how about you?
