Coaching Your Kids
Until my family was introduced to Odyssey of the Mind(OM), I hadn’t thought about myself as a coach. Turns out, I thrived in coaching OM, especially the spontaneous challenges! Since 2014, OM has been our “team sport” of choice in which our entire family has participated as a team member, coach, or judge. While we have dabbled in other team sports (baseball, soccer, swim team), most of the PE classes our three daughters have enjoyed are more individualized in nature – rock climbing, fencing, gymnastics, biking, running, hiking, horseback riding, snorkeling, golf, and tennis. So the lessons they learned regarding TEAM have been taught primarily through OM, a creative problem solving competition.
Most recently however, we are thinking through framing our parenting in the context of coaching the family team. Have you ever thought of yourself as the professional COACH for your kids? Certainly in your kids’ early years it may seem that you are simply keeping the little tyke alive (eat, play, potty, sleep…repeat), and minimal coaching is involved. However, don’t you strategically care for your child more than even the best babysitter?
Jefferson Bethke, in his book, Take Back Your Family, lists differences in many topic areas between parent coaches and babysitters:
“What’s the difference between a coach and a babysitter? One is concerned with simply preventing the worst possible outcome; their main job is to keep the kids alive. The other is concerned with creating the best possible outcome: How can I help you flourish?...Safety is paramount for a babysitter. Coaches do much more: they teach, coach, mentor, create vision, plan, and strategize…Coaches are experts about their players; babysitters are novices.” (p.106-107, emphasis mine)
My husband and I have always taken our parenting role seriously–we consider ourselves professional parents–but we hope to take ourselves less seriously. Think back to a favorite coach you had–did he/she know when to relax and celebrate, as well as run the tough practices? Parenting with a coach mindset is more fun! We can have a blast playing this game of life with our kids, and coach them using God’s playbook.
What should encourage us about this parent/coach idea? God has given us a road map in scripture to follow and we don’t need to coach alone, thanks to the Holy Spirit!
The Bible is rife with verses that have inspired sports coaches for years – look at these for example.
A couple of the coaching verses above overlap with these parenting scriptures I have listed in my own Bible:
Some of these verses are specific, but others you would need to draw parenting inferences from the truth found in God’s word. One verse I particularly like in that regard:
“Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” Hebrews 4:16
To parent well we continually need God’s grace and boldness to come before the Lord in prayer, and God provides exceedingly and abundantly above and beyond all we could ask or think! One method God provides parenting help is through community – together is better.
Epic Church is committed to families thriving in their relationships with Jesus! You are invited to a special event we are hosting called THRIVE, a parenting event on Saturday, Nov. 5th from 9-11:30am. Here we’ll dig deeper into this concept of parents as coaches, and give you actionable tools in launching your individual family’s playbook for your next season.
We’d like to be part of your wider coaching team – it’s a joy to coach our kids together to love Jesus and love people. When we coach in a community, we have access to knowledge and wisdom to become better parents. Join us, as we all go boldly to God’s throne, asking for his grace and mercy as we coach our kids like pros.
Grace and peace,
Annikki
GOD + Prayer + Scripture + Community + YOUR Family → THRIVE spiritually
October Epic Kids Unit Verse:
Sunday Gatherings
In Person & Online:
9:00 AM • 10:30 AM • 12:00 PM
SoMa • 250 Stevenson St. San Francisco, CA 94103
