Let me set the stage. Friday, my wife went to Chicago with my oldest daughter, Jae, on a class field trip. I stayed home with Bailee and Brennen. Not only did I have to get Bailee up for school and drive her there, I also had to get Brennen up and ready to go with us. And it just happened to be the day before Halloween so Bailee had a little more stuff than usual to bring to school. It wasn’t such a big deal. For the most part it was a typical day.
Yesterday morning we also had an electrician scheduled to come at 9:30 am to look at our outside house lighting and a few other electrical jobs inside the house and basement. For all those men out there, especially the married ones, can you relate to what happen to me next……
In the morning, I walk in the kitchen and on the table were two sheets of paper with directions, diagrams, graphs, charts and questions to ask the electrician. My question is… am I the only guy that has to get so much help when “The Mom” leaves me in charge? It was like having one of those guys at the airport with the two red lights who guide the plane into its terminal…geesh! The only thing she didn’t do was pin the notes to my shirt and send me off to school.
Come on guys! Give me some assurance. I am the only one in the bracket of complete dependence.
It kind of reminds me of working with my interns at LTSA. It is important to make sure they do things the correct way so I would spoon feed them in the beginning. At some point they need to learn from their mistakes (my wife is still spoon feeding me?).
I guess this is the same situations with my athletes. When they first join my program I will walk them through everything all my systems. After a while I expect them to know what to do when I give them directions. For example, the other night I told a group of athletes to perform four strength exercises. I gave them the sets, reps, and rest periods. The experienced athletes went to right to town. The newer athlete needed my assistance through the entire process. It will give them a couple more weeks and then I will expect them to know the routine.
Love to hear what you do to prepare your athletes to be self-dependent on certain aspects of their training or practices. If you want to share how your significant other has to hold your hand to make sure you get things done correctly… share that as well.
Ha, I hear what your saying Lee! Even if your capable they wont let you slide. Its nurturing! Just like the wives, we coaches love the satisifaction of making everything run smooth and perfect. Even if they are perfect, we look for flaws!
This cracks me up! Since I am a mom and wife I do a lot of instructions and pinnings. I’ve figured out through my son that men aren’t into details. Jace will come home and mention something that happened at school and I will ask the why, when, how questions and he looks at me as if I have horns. You would think after years of making my husband go back for more information I would learned to live without but seriously guys it’s in the details! lol
Tish
Lee,
A couple of weeks ago my wife went to Hawaii for her sisters wedding. Yes, shame I didn’t get to go.
But I was home for 5 days with my 18 mo. old daughter. I never realized how much my stay at home wife does.
I can also relate to the situation with the athletes. Older veteran athletes really don’t need much guidance. The younger, newer ones get confused easily.
But that is where we are trying to get the younger ones to. Plus I want the older athletes to know how to workout properly when they leave us to go off to college or when they are out of college and still exercising.
We are not just developing younger athletes, we are developing future adults who need to develop personal responsibility. THanks for the mail.
Great post.
Lee,
Don’t sweat it! I’m a part time at home dad. I have a 3 year old and a 5 year old. The older daughter has been held back for 1 year from kindergarten.
Since they were born, they’ve only been to a daycare facility for 3 months. So you would think that I had a little experience with them.
Part of it is a little jealousy. My wife admits that I do a good job with the girls, however she still likes to add the details. Fortunately my girls have gotten older and smarter. They fill me in on what changes have been made with their daily routine.
This makes my job a little easier. I simply explain that I will figure everything out. Her reply may be ” It’s not as easy as you think”. By being so detailed, the girls have digested everything she say’s. They simple feed to me. Now I look like a genuis.
Not to mention that my 5 year old needed a stretching routine for her weekly dance classes, I simply wrote down a detailed list of instructions for mom to assist Taryn with.
She loved it!! It’s a draw!!
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