Make Your Mistakes, Slip Up Sometimes

Bearak, Barry. "Too Fast, Too Soon? Young Endurance Runners Draw Cheers and Concerns." New York Times 3 November 2012. Sports. 3 November 2012 and 14 January 2013 <http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/04/sports/too-fast-too-soon-young-endurance-runners-draw-cheers-and-concerns.html?pagewanted=all>.

     I read Too Fast, Too Soon? Young Endurance Runners Draw Cheers and Concerns by Barry Bearak. Kaytlynn and Heather Welscshe are always underestimated based on their age by bystanders at major races they run. The girls are actually powerful runners, but are pushed hard by their father despite comments against their parenting style. The Welscheswant the best for their kids- they make sure they are healthy and keep them focused on running by limiting their media sources. There are some medical downsides- like stunting the girls' growth, weakening their bones, and even delaying the onset of puberty. Rodney, their father, is both supportive and pressuring. Though being super reunners, the girls still make mistakes and are still growing up. The girls are almost pressured into running, even with tough conditions like a bad toe and stitch-worthy cuts. Though the girls do amazing, their father isn't happy with any bad times. Kaytlynn tries to show her dad what she can do to make him proud.

      When I first started reading this, I was impressed. These girls are 10 and twelve and could do better than adults who have trained for decades. But then I was remanded that with every pageant kid (or in this case, an amazing running kid), there is an obsessive, never-satisfied pageant parent (running parent). My suspicions were confirmed when Kaytlynn and Heather's father said:

"'She’s not hurt. It’s not a knee or an ankle. She just has pain, and she’ll deal with pain.'”

      I think that this shows that he's obviously not stopping Kaytlynn from running for anything. But the most shocking thing was he said after Kaytlynn finished:

"'You quit on us today.'"

     This line really stood out for me it made me think, Why shouldn't you be happy with her being amazing? Shouldn't parents be proud of their children? I realize that her time was far over what she usually does, but not all people can be perfect every single minute of every single day. Sometimes we slip up, and that's okay. This statement made extremely angry and also sad for Kaytlynn. She shouldn't have this spotlight on her, having to do everything right 24/7. I understand that this might push her to run better, and that she loves to run, but pushing your kid to be perfect isn't going to help someone in life overall. People slip up. If kids go into adulthood thinking that they have to get everything right all the time, then they're going to be extremely disappointed if they do slip up. Another angering thought is that this father isn't letting these kids learn from their mistakes. These kids aren't even allowed to make any. 

     Overall, I think that kids should be able to learn from their slip ups. Teaching kids to never make mistakes, in my opinion, isn't the right way to go. Children shouldn't be such dramatically criticized for one mistake (which in Kaytlynn's defense was an injury! You can't help that!). Rodney shouldn't have told his child that "she gave up on them." She went out there and tried her best, and I think that it's what she could do under the circumstances. She fought through her toe injury, falling AND having a serious cut, so is that not good enough? She deserves a little slack for fighting though all those things. Rodney claimed that she didn't try her best, but I think it's hard enough to fight through that. I think that even though pressure pushes these girls, it's not necessarily good for them. Kids need to try their best and not have to deal with people telling them that trying their best and slipping up isn't good enough.