What Goes Into Raising A Champion?

inspir8tion / Flickr

What does raising a champion mean? The same question may be asked-- who will have an impact on your child while he/she is growing up? What influences will you allow or require? You may have heard a popular adage stated over time, the omnipresent, “It takes a village to raise a child.” Consider these groups who may inspire your little champion:

·               Parents

·              Grandparents

·              Extended Family

·              Coaches

·              Teachers

·              Siblings

·              Friends (parental or personal)

·              Ministers, Pastors, People of faith

·              God Parents

·              Community leaders and volunteers

·              A whole host of athletes, media and celebrity figures

·              The many more who enter with a single thoughtful act

More influences mean more opportunity, in my opinion. Eventually its only natural we grab and hold onto dearly what matches our passion and therefore our appetite. I feel this
impacts us as adults too and we can also learn from this. It’s never too late to become a champion.

The bottom line is, kids need our guidance and support. More angles from different groups may equate to more chances for your little one to have a champion size outlook. The “Village” support system comes into play to raise the spirits of our young, but also when rejection or failure will inevitably happen. And it will.

When we have children were we really thinking about a plan in raising our little one? Did we foresee what our child would dream? I don’t recall thinking too far down the line. Life had its own challenges in my young twenties I hope we all can respect and understand—personally I was thinking more like don’t mess this up and just keeping the new one safe, healthy, and happy.

My only discussion and subsequent request with my kid’s mom, before my first-born arrived, was with disciplining methods. Other than that we just went with our gut. I think with our first we tended to be more rigid which may be a natural response since we were trying to figure out what it meant to be an exceptional parent.

What would life be without a child’s embrace or a shared moment in bliss with your little one? Through out our young lives we dream, grow, fall in love, get married, and witness arguably life’s greatest joy—the birth of a child. For some maybe not in that order, but we cannot deny our children are at the heart of all things good starting with their birthday.

Thinking back, how would I get past without all those tiny “deer kisses”, smiles and giggles. I reminisce about walking hand in hand, talking, their dependence on me for answers to life’s little questions, and playing together learning together-- today I still see the little girl in all of my grown daughters.

From breathing in our new child’s first breaths to raising our loved ones into adulthood, we run with our natural talent. We learned together with our first child providing a healthy, loving surrounding.  With more children, we figured out what’s important with what works and what doesn’t mainly from what we learned with the first.

As my daughters were born into this world, to the tune of about one every two years on average over a six-year period, we tended to let go of some things as we became more comfortable with our selves as parents. Besides, who has the time to institute all forms of discipline with four little ones? As long as we were consistent was our priority.

My children are destined for something remarkable. They are all champions with a champion sized outlook in my very biased opinion, though to their credit mainly due to the number of accomplishments they have endured. Each will live out their destiny in their own special way.

I share, in part, my journey and discovery with an extract from a previous post, 5 Staples To Nurturing Your Child’s Independence, “I thought about a good balance of clearly stated, high demands with emotional responsiveness and respect for my child's autonomy. I would promote an atmosphere where I could teach values and good virtue. I would make my children a priority and I never waivered from this approach…”

Another post from my blog’s archive, Strengthening Your Child In the Eye Of Challenge, I share examples of their challenges and the importance we all play in their guidance and support and therefore in their success, “They are designing their own path in this world, chasing their own dreams, and following their own instincts. 

The responsibility I accept with each of my children is in conscious decisions to ask good pertinent and intelligent questions. Their response may in effect raise more questions, but their answer isn’t as important as much as their own insight, awareness, and perspective on the issue. I think the best way to help your child is to love them, nurture them, and help channel their energies. 

Other considerations, which may impact your child’s destiny or path, are negative consequences we have no control over. Divorce happens. Families split up. Blended families may come together, but these times are important to not overlook these effects on our children and to keep them moving toward their personal goals. 

Depending on our outlook, those negatives may have positive results if handled properly. I tried not to let divorce affect my kids—allowing them to still see the beauty in the world even when things weren’t going so well under the surface.

In more recent times economic crisis may impact our children. Parents lose jobs. Families may have to move for financial security as a result. Cut backs on luxuries to our children may be imminent.

Accepting things happen for a reason and bigger things will follow if we stay positive will benefit, though I completely understand the test. Its hard. I express to my kids-- go after the dream or interest, and if its meant to be, things will fall into place to make it happen. But it all starts with each of them.

Raising a champion comes from several forms. More influences will filter into passions and the desire to chase dreams. Kids can’t do it alone – they need our guidance and support. Children will grasp onto what will inevitably make them a champion in their own right. Each child may have Olympic size results only just without the medal and publicity. And that’s ok with me.

© 2012 Bruce Buccio