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Charles Barkley once said (and this is not a direct quote) I am not a role model. I am not paid to be a role model. Parents should be role models. Just because I can dunk a basketball does not mean I should raise your kid.
How many crimes need to take place before parents realize that it is not a good idea to have your child worship the ground an athlete walks on. They are human beings just like everyone else and make mistakes. Would you feel comfortable with your child saying he wants to grow up and be a professional baseball player knowing that alot of the top notch players are junkies. I think it would make more sense to explain that you should want to emulate their game and not their character because you do not know what that is. Do not let the media brain wash your child. They do it ever day until the person who they keep praising falls off their high horse. RicK Pitino comes to mind. If you as a parent make a mistake at least you are there with the child to look him/her in the eye and explain from the heart what happen. Watching an athlete on 60 minutes or ESPN makes no sense. What are your thoughts?
I always liked sir Charles quotes but that aside, he's so right about this and you are too. People need 2 SUVs in the driveway and Plasma TV sets so TV & who is on it become the babysitter & nanny & parents of too many children because parents can never make enough $$$ for all the material stuff. At least that is how it is in my suburbia but that is not how we were brought up.
Really these standards for these public figures sink lower each minute. They need to be on Americas Most Wanted highlight DVDs, not celebrated!!!!!!!!!!!but that is our faults for wanting more of this drivel, The public eats it up and still supports them & buys their stuff etc
It depends.... Probobly a bad idea if your kid chooses an NFL star to idolize since the league is full of thugs and criminals. Baseball too since it is full of cheaters and liars. NHL hockey and MLS soccer, on the other hand, has much much more responsible athletes.
The only reason it looks like athletes commit lots of crimes is that it is all publicized.
If you took the percentage of professional athletes that actually committed crimes to the percentage of regular people in the US that commit crimes, I bet the percentage of athletes is much lower.
The only reason it looks like athletes commit lots of crimes is that it is all publicized.
If you took the percentage of professional athletes that actually committed crimes to the percentage of regular people in the US that commit crimes, I bet the percentage of athletes is much lower.
I agree...every move that top athletes make gets publicized. That's not to say they're better human beings than average people, but about the same. Same mistakes, just better athletes. If they do commit more crimes on a per capita basis than the non-athlete population (and I don't think they do), it's probably because they have more opportunities. Way more money to throw around, way more people coming around offering them things and trying to get into their 'circle'. That being said, of course parents should be the role models for kids...not random athletes that they'll more than likely never meet or know personally.
The parents have to be parents and not their kids' friend. Unfortunately, I have seen too much of the latter over the last 15 years.
Boys who are inclined toward sports will inevitably have players they admire. But parents have to explain that just because someone has a job in the public spotlight does not inherently make them good human beings and, in fact, celebrity will tend to amplify the flaws in one's personality rather than ameliorate them.
I don't think it should be an either/or thing, but both should behave, at least publically, as if they are, because right or not, they are.
Parents, obviously so.
Athletes, despite Sir Charles' assertion, arerole models, whether they like it or not. They are hyped, advertised, made rich and famous, and sorry, Sir Charles, you can't have it both ways. Kids, especially athletic kids are going to make heroes out of these guys...ESPN and our society help make it so.
It's not necessarily the way it should be, or fair, but it is what it is, and that's the way it is.
They are role models, often unfortunately so.
parents without question. Athletes are a select few who have a gift.Not everyone has this gift and its unreal for a kid to expect to become the next great athlete. Parents should be there to teach their kids right from wrong. I do not want my daughter to rely on some pro athlete to tell them how to live. Yes you can admire them but pattern your life after them?you don't see ALL they do.Look at Steve Garvey as an example.Guys got like 20 illegitimate kids all over the country!Same with Holyfield and at one point these guys were considered gentleman and role models!
Parents should be role models for their children because they are the ones that their children see doing right or wrong. Children are born with innocence and they do not have a clue what is going on, that is the reason, parents should be very careful of what they do or say in the presence of their children. Parent are the example setters for their own children. When a parent uses profanity in the presence of their children, the children feel it okay to use profanity in the presence of anybody and everybody. Parent stop relying on celebrities as role for your children because celebrities are ordinary people who came fro all walks of life. Some celebrities came from dysfunctional homes. Parents have to take this into consideration, " You can take a rat out of a gutter but you can not take the gutter out of the rat. And also " Education can be bought but you can not buy morals.
Parents
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