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Encouragement or pushing too hard?


hafilax

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the guy sounds like a wanna-bbe tool..."nearly every weekend someone is hauled down the talus"??? there's lots of climbing obituaries??? Bullshit...

 

he sounds like a guy who wanted to be a bad ass mofo and wasn't and now is living vicariously through his daughter...

 

Having said all of this...I wonder about my own kids, my oldest would rather hang with buddies cragging or go to the gym instead of going to a birthday party...he crushes routes and pushes himself too hard, in my opinion...the mental strain that he puts on himself for performance would break me personally...i don't know how a ten year old handles it...

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i agree with RuMR. what a tool. and he does a disservice to climbing by describing it the way he does. but enough on that dork.

 

i have a 2 and and almost-4 year old. i hope they become climbers, but i'm using reverse psychology. i'd rather have them begging to tag along when i go climbing, as opposed to me forcing it on them.

 

i feel this way because i swam competitively from age 4 on, but burned out by age 14 or so. i would hate to see my kids peak as climbers at like age 10, then be completely burned out just as they are getting old enough to belay me or go on real climbing weekends and trips.

 

and at the end of the day, parenting is about being supportive of your kids and their hobbies and helping them become who they are - not forcefeeding them your passion because you can't handle being a "normal" parent.

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I think the guy was intentionally over-the-top but that doesn't excuse the tone of the article.

 

From the other point of view, I was a really disconnected kid. I couldn't make a decision if my life depended on it. I remember one spring, my father asking me what camps/activities I wanted to do for the summer and I responded "I don't know." which was the truth. I really did need a little push to do something; anything.

 

My father asked me later in my life why I never got into competitive sailing (he did an olympic campaign in the fireball class) and all I could think was that I never really had any support and just needed a push. I remember, if I asked for anything to do with sailing he would do his best to help me but he never offered anything. Maybe he was afraid of pushing too hard, I don't know.

 

Anyway, every kid is different and motivated by different things. All a parent can do is try to be on the same wavelength. Of course according to the author and a few cockrhymers I'm not entitled to an opinion because I don't have kids. :rolleyes:

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