This is a guest blog, written by THE Dustin Sams, Student Pastor at Second Baptist Church, Conway Arkansas.
I was asked recently by a parent whether they should let their child play all sports or begin to specialize early and focus on only one sport. My response was, “I don’t know, but what goals do you have for your family and for your child?” Common answers are to do well in school or love Jesus and their Grandma, etc. Think about this: In the grand scheme of life, what type of relationship do you want with your child? Looking at things from that perspective, sports and extracurricular activities take a back seat. We only have one chance to raise our children, make it count.
I see an epidemic of parents running all over town each week to gymnastics, baseball practice, multiple youth groups and parachurch Bible studies, and then they let them join a traveling sports team, just go-go-go. We wear this busyness like a badge on our chest when describing all we have to do. My advice has always been to add more NO’s to your vocabulary. Parents, say NO if adding something to the schedule will take away another night of sit-down meals with your kids. Say NO if the added activity takes more time away from you and your spouse spending time together. Say NO to volunteering with a very worthy organization if you don’t have the time. Don’t MAKE time! We have 168 hours in the week. SPEND it with the ones God has blessed you with.
Margin in our life is that space between a schedule that is manageable and maxing out. Keep margin in your life. If you have young ones, that time with their mom and dad is the most important thing on your schedule. Discipling our kids is priority #1. Not baseball, not cheer, not gymnastics, not 4-H, nothing else. I have two kids that are old enough to be involved in lots of activities. But what is more important to me is that my children know their parents, hang out with their parents, and play with us. I challenge our family to be sitting down for dinner together a minimum of 3 nights a week. We have seen soccer signups come and go; baseball signups come and go. Teaching my son and daughter the Word of God and how to live out their faith is my priority.
The Bible teaches rest….commands us to rest. Not to just stop doing too many things, but to rest. If you can’t take a 24-hour Sabbath during the week, you are too busy. If you are too busy to have conversations with your kids in places other than the car…well, I would say you are too busy. To answer the question about playing all sports or specializing, the answer is – I don’t know. All I know that God is pleased when we spend quality time with our spouses and kids and model Christ.
