Was I Ever Good Enough

Every year, as time has flown by so quickly, I have watched the kids finish their seasons and jump right into different seasons—football, fall baseball, soccer, basketball, and of course, school with all of its demands.

It all just runs together, and it is chaotic!!

It is relentless… full of all kinds of fun, as well as pressure to get it all done. Being a parent is an exhilarating, exhausting, and very important job.

A concerned father called me to tell me his son had made the varsity baseball team at his high school. He had waited for his shot, worked hard, dreamed big, planned so he would be ready, and as a senior he had won his spot. A huge accomplishment at a big school with a storied program.

Then the dad hit me with the bad news.

His son decided not to play.

"He walked into the house, tossed his glove on the couch, looked at his dad, and said, 'Dad, practice was terrible. I couldn't do anything right.'"

He went on to say, "It's never enough. It's never good enough. Nothing I ever do is good enough. I made the team, but I still don't feel like I've done enough. I just don't want to play anymore. Dad, was I ever good enough?"

Grab your children tonight, no matter what they are doing, and tell them they are the most amazing gift you have ever been given. Tell them that they have done enough to make you complete. Just by showing up on this planet, they have made you the luckiest parent on earth. Tell them how thankful you are to be with them.

Kids are under a lot of pressure these days, as we know. Sometimes we really do get busy and assume they are OK and don't really need our time. The most important thing you can ever do for your child is… be there.

I know you can't be there for everything. They know that too. But do the best you can to be there for them. Be there to answer the tough questions and deal with the tough times. It's your job.

Kevin Seitzer (hitting coach of the Seattle Mariners and Kansas City Royals All-Star) said to me at breakfast one morning, "I decided to never be the coach or parent that made a kid give up the game."

Enjoy them all, every day.

Really, kids just want to have fun and be with their friends. Sometimes, as parents, we have to sit back and remember what it was like to be a kid!!

As a grandparent of 13, we get to see them all—each granddaughter and grandson doing their thing. And they have a bunch of things going on for sure.

As grandparents, we can't get enough.

You have officially been given permission to enjoy your kids. And don’t be too hard on yourself when it seems like it's too much. You'll get through it if you stay at it. ::))

Just remember that time flies. You won't believe it.

In Keepers of the Sandlot, the last chapter is called "The Ride Home." Check it out.

"On the ride home, the game is over. Your child got excited to play the game, and now the game is over, and they are on to the next thing. Don't make too much of a win or a loss. Just tell them that you love them and that you loved watching them play."

Because one day, you'll ride home alone… and you'll wish you had those days back.

Make the ride home a great one.

You can do it. That's good enough.

"We weren't always the best team out there, nor did we have the best line-up from top to bottom. We did, however, have the most fun. For those reasons, we all loved the game tremendously." — Wylie-Prairie Panthers, 1997-98.