My baby daughter is 14…she is a basketball player.
But she is at a tough stage right now….entering high school. Although she has played with all the girls at the high school on travel ball and such for years, there is still this” them” and “me” mentality that goes on. Well this week she got picked to play two games with the varsity players. She was giddy with excitement….until the game. She froze. She ran up and down the court but did not come within 5 feet of the ball the whole game. As a parent I was just dying. She loves this game and I knew she just killed herself in the eyes of the coach.
After the first game she walked up to me and said…”I suck”. I looked at her and made her an offer…$5.00 everytime you touch the ball. I was just hoping that the coach would give her another chance.
The game started and within five minutes the coach put her in….with in one minute she had the ball…she looks at me and flashes me five fingers. Pretty soon she had it again…10 fingers this time. Soon my basketball player daughter forgot that she wasn’t” one of them”…she was jumping for rebounds..shooting baskets..and trying to steal the ball.
After the game ,which they won, she came up to me and said…”You owe me either $15 or $20 dollars…I can’t remember”. I smiled at her and said…”I owe you $45.”
Yes it was an expensive game for me but so valuable for her. She had started out doing it for the money..but soon she was just playing the game. She got away from the voices inside her head that were making her feel puny.
So why am I telling you this story? To remind you of the power of a bribe? No. It made me think about how much I hold myself back in life because of silly things that my head likes to tell me….You aren’t good enough…You can’t…You will look silly.
If we could all just shut our heads off and just do it, we might surprise ourselves with what we can do.
No I won’t be paying my daughter at every game, but I don’t think I will have to…she knows what she can do. So what about you…do you know that you are so much more than those voices in your head will allow you to believe?
inspiredwife
inspiredwife
inspiredwife
inspiredwife
inspiredwife
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inspiredwife
Way to go A!! Miss V had a rough start this year in school and I bribed/challenged her that I would give her $1.00 for every AR point to be used at Books A Million for new books. Usually she ends up with about 50 points for the year. Well next week we will go shopping and she has $85.30 to spend.
I also saw that saying on Pinterest and I must remember the first line. I am having a really hard time being our VBS Coordinator. I have never done this before and I am constantly feeling like I am failing miserably. The last line…Oh how I wish Miss V would remember that and feel it in her heart.
I am sure you are doing great! Remember…it’s not about you…God is in control. He will send the kids he wants and touch the hearts he plans to touch. He just wants you to be a willing servent. Way to go Miss V. My older girls were big time readers…A…not so much, but I am still hopeful that some day she will fall in love with it.
Dianne, I
cried happy tears after reading your blog this morning. Oh how I wish I had a parent like you when I was on my h.s. swim team. That was such a loving jesture since you knew in your gut what was holding her back…and a loving jesture by your daughter by discounting her payback! I love your blog
Agggh…of course it’s gesture…my bad!
Such an awesome post – good words to live by!
Way to go to your daughter!!
I love this story! You are a great motivating mom!
I pinned and FB’d this…love it. And you gave me an idea of how to motivate myself in an area! Thank you!
Thank you….I would love to hear how your motivation goes.
I’ll let you know. I lead a group called Maida Today Dolls Group that focuses on making antique inspired dolls as folk art. It has 500+ members. I shared your story with the group about getting UNstuck. I’ve been a bit stuck – working on a commissioned piece for a long, long time. A very patient collector is waiting. It struck me that maybe I need to put $5 bills on my work table and every time I go there put one in my pocket…we’ll see how I use this but your post showed me I need to motivate myself somehow to get some things accomplished and stop dithering.
I love it! I need to tuck this into my bag of parenting tricks for teens. I might need it for a similar circumstance really soon – you never know. Thanks for sharing!
Love it! Thanks for sharing.
Great idea! I don’t think that would have ever come to me, but I love it.