There are moments in life in which you realize how blessed you truly are. Some are little, like everyone, including dogs, sleeping in until 7:30 on the weekends. Some are bigger. Sometimes, the moments hit you out of the blue. The first day of Run Club with my daughter was one of those moments that came out of nowhere. For Run Club, the end event is a Color Run. She can't do it for a couple of reasons. Even though she can't do the run, she still takes part in Run Club. She does this because she enjoys it. She doesn't need praise. She doesn't need recognition. She doesn't need to be the best. She doesn't need everyone to know that she's in Run Club. The thing is, this is how she is with everything in her life. I see so many kids who only do things for praise or some sort of recognition. I see them doing things just for the attention. They may not even enjoy whatever it is they are doing. I see kids who say they don't want to do something because it's boring, but then get recognition for it and decide they want to continue, even though they were just ready to quit. The other thing I see is kids deciding not do something because they aren't the best at it. That is something Sunshine doesn't do. She does things because she is passionate about them, or at, the very least, she thinks they're fun.
Life is not about constant praise and recognition. Life is not about being the best at everything. You need to do things because they are the right thing to do or because you enjoy them. A life lesson is that there is always someone out there that is better than you at something. The opposite is that there is always someone worse, also. There are things you have to do. There are things that are right to do. There are things that are fun to do. The trick is to balance them. At age 9, Sunshine is well ahead of the curve on this one.
There was a point where Sunshine asked what her "thing" was. She listed friends and their "things". She was upset because she felt like she didn't have a "thing". I let her know that passion was her "thing" . She is passionate about everything she does. She puts her heart and soul into everything. She doesn't focus on just one thing and has a huge range of interests. This kid does everything. She is in soccer, softball, dance, science olympiad, girl scouts, safety patrol, glee, and more things I can't think of at the moment. She does these things because she enjoys them. She doesn't expect praise or special recognition. She just does them because she enjoys them.
She also doesn't make excuses when she doesn't want to do something. I can't tell you the number of times I've heard excuse after excuse about why someone isn't doing something. When Sunshine doesn't want to do something, it's because she doesn't enjoy it and she's upfront about it.
Life is not about constant praise and recognition. Life is not about being the best at everything. You need to do things because they are the right thing to do or because you enjoy them. A life lesson is that there is always someone out there that is better than you at something. The opposite is that there is always someone worse, also. There are things you have to do. There are things that are right to do. There are things that are fun to do. The trick is to balance them. At age 9, Sunshine is well ahead of the curve on this one.
There was a point where Sunshine asked what her "thing" was. She listed friends and their "things". She was upset because she felt like she didn't have a "thing". I let her know that passion was her "thing" . She is passionate about everything she does. She puts her heart and soul into everything. She doesn't focus on just one thing and has a huge range of interests. This kid does everything. She is in soccer, softball, dance, science olympiad, girl scouts, safety patrol, glee, and more things I can't think of at the moment. She does these things because she enjoys them. She doesn't expect praise or special recognition. She just does them because she enjoys them.
She also doesn't make excuses when she doesn't want to do something. I can't tell you the number of times I've heard excuse after excuse about why someone isn't doing something. When Sunshine doesn't want to do something, it's because she doesn't enjoy it and she's upfront about it.
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