Children taking drug and caffeine cocktail to improve sports performance. (Poor parenting)
Children are combining easily obtained medication such as Sudafed or Nurofen with high caffeine drinks prior to sporting events in a misguided attempt to boost their performance.
A key ‘tap root’ to this behavior is the belief that winning is important, or even ‘everything’. This idea is fostered by our media, the society in which we live and is often encouraged by parents. Apparently, the practice is especially prevalent in private schools which tend to have a bigger focus on winning.
Here is a shocking article with more detail:
Children consuming drugs, caffeine drinks to boost sports performance
Parents bear a great deal of responsibility for this situation. Parenting ‘shapes’ the way a child develops and many of societal ills stem from extremely poor parenting.
Yes, I said it, “extremely poor parenting“.
What we say, do, and project has a direct and powerful influence on our children.
If we are unbalanced, distorted people then is it any surprise that our kids turn out that way?
Here are some examples:
- If you are a greedy over-eater (fat pig), are you surprised that your children follow suit?
- If you are insensitive and uncaring, then you WILL teach that to your children. You might have to wait until you are old before you reap all of what you have sown however. “Why don’t my children come and see me?” you may ask.
I remember years ago when as a child I was with my father on a visit to London. When my father bought hot chestnuts from a street boy trader, whom I felt a bit sorry for, I noticed that my father gave him a coin which was not legal tender in the UK. Afterward I commented on it to my father, who did not like to be ‘pulled up’. A key thing I learnt about my father that day was that he did not care about the poor kid/other people. Instead of creating an opportunity where I could admire my father, he created a negative view which has stayed with me to this day.
Not long after, I was entered in two races at school. Because I was no good at running (due to undiagnosed exercise induced asthma) I was in the ‘open class’ for people who were deemed ‘no good’. My father said I would receive 5 pounds per race if I won. As it happened, I won both races. My father only gave me 5 pounds and denied that he had said I would get 5 pounds per race. I felt very betrayed. My father was not a poor man, so another 5 pounds was not a big deal to him. Even if I had misunderstood, (which I did not) then a sensitive and thoughtful father would not have wanted his child to think that he was a liar, or that he had betrayed his son. In such a case, I would have paid my son because of the ‘bigger picture’. Once, I even paid my stepsons money for the work they did for their father at HIS house when he had underpaid and broken his promise. One reason I did this was to demonstrate that not all adults, or people for that matter, are unreliable/untrustworthy. My father was a very clever man – a world class business man – but he was not at all smart with parenting. Which are you?
Just because you are a success at work or business, it does not mean you are a success as a parent. My Dad was second in command of accounting for a multinational company at age 24, reporting only to the Finance director. Yes, he was world class business wise. It is the ONLY thing I admire about him. As a parent, he is a terrible failure.
So…what about you?
Do you really think carefully about your impact on your children?
Buying lots of toys doesn’t cut it. Have you ever wondered why so many children of the ‘stars’ make such a terrible mess of their lives? Despite having ‘everything’?
How much of YOU do you give your children?
What sort of character are you?
Do you expect your children to do what YOU want? Or do you encourage them to find their own talents and excel at them?
Do you KNOW your children?
My dad told my Housemaster at Rugby School that I was a very good swimmer. I cringed inside when he said that because I knew I wasn’t. I really wasn’t – I had trouble breathing (due to asthma) on long swims. I had to cheat when swimming the obligatory one length of the Olympic sized swimming pool so as to be allowed into recreational swimming! Some top swimmer! My dad set me up for failure and ridicule. My father demonstrated repeatedly that he did not know the real me.
What you as parents do has a huge impact on your children.
Yes, lots is your fault and it is about time you owned up to it. And DID something about it. Making excuses and denial is just a vicious circle.
One day, your children will have to clear up the mess you made. I did. That’s one reason I know so much about this subject.
If my father, who as far as I know is till alive, is reading this then I have a message just for him:
I made a success of my life, finding balance, joy and happiness in spite of your evil and thoughtless actions. As it happens, I turned all the negatives you gave me into positives. Few people who went through the kind of mental anguish I did survive, let alone prosper; which is why I wouldn’t wish you as a Dad on anyone. You were, and are, a failure as a father and husband. I wish I could admire you, my father, but I can’t. I don’t feel bitter, and if you genuinely changed and tried to put things right I would forgive. (Note to readers: bitterness leads to ill health and in any case, spiritual justice/fairness requires that the forgiven can also forgive). Even your own mother was ashamed of you.
In conclusion then, readers, ask yourselves:
What am I doing on the deep, real level when it comes to my children?
Are you a parenting failure in disguise? In denial?
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