Role Model

Charles Barkley, a former All-pro basketball player and television analyst, created a great deal of controversy in 1993 by stating that he was not a role model for American youth. He had stated this throughout his career and the same year as being chosen the NBA MVP he stated as much when he wrote the text in an ‘I am not a role model’ Nike commercial.

His argument which is recounted in Wikipedia, ‘..is a call for parents and teachers to quit looking to him to ‘raise your kids’ and instead be role models themselves. And what they're (the media) really doing is telling kids to look up to someone they can't become, because not many people can be like we are. Kids can't be like Michael Jordan ‘.

Your kids need someone to look up to who can become their role models. I raise this point as a result of a discussion we had today with some friends at lunch when the discussion came to talking with your kids about sex.

It’s not just talking with your kids it is also the example that you set – the life you live. They need to see the life modeled in you.

Each parent plays a significant role in the lives of their children. A man has a very significant impact and as a role model he shows his son the proper way to treat a woman and he shows his daughter the way to expect to be properly treated by a man. Are you portraying the best example? A simple way to find out is by thinking about how you are treating your wife.

Barkley is right to a degree. As a basketball player he could model playing basketball but he couldn’t model how to live life because kids didn’t see him constantly in all different life situations. Plus he did not have a vested interest in the development of the kids who were his fans.

But you, as a man, will constantly model attitudes and behaviors in all types of life situations to your kids. Your example is crucial to their development, their future and their future family.

I think a great compliment to you, men, is that people would say that your son is a lot like you. And a compliment for you regarding your daughter is that her boyfriend or fiancée or is a lot like you.

You have to be up to the challenge. You have to want the ball when the game is on the line.

Don’t drop the ball!