As I was scrolling through one of the many social media platforms of the internet, I came upon this quote (maybe it was a meme…) and it said: “When you have kids, you think you’re watching them grow up but they’re watching you grow up as well”.
Now, I don’t have kids… yet that is. But this quote really made me think from another perspective, you know? I can imagine how true that is… and if you have kids and you’re reading that, it probably hits home for you even more.
When I was a kid, I looked up to my parents… they were my role models, they were the examples that I had. I figured they knew everything… after all, they’re my parents. But little did I know as a kid, my parents were also figuring it out.
Both my brother and I were fortunate to have loving parents growing up that supported us along our individual journeys. Whatever we wanted to do from an activity standpoint, they not only supported us but went out of their way to make it happen.
I always remember at least one of my parents would show up to every one of my games as a young kid. That’s what parents do, right?! They go support their kids, cheer them on… your parents are your biggest fans. And as I grew up, I don’t think my mom and dad missed many of my baseball or soccer games in high school either.
Now I mentioned I was competitive… what I meant was I hated to lose. This also included Monopoly, any board game for that matter, mini-golf, bowling… you name it. But what I hated more than losing was when I didn’t play well. I was (and still am) very hard on myself. Talk about adding up the strikeout to hit ratio… I did it all the time. I guess I was harder on myself in Baseball growing up because there was such a high margin for error.
My parents knew when I didn’t have a good game. They could easily tell by my demeanor, attitude, physical expressions… I mean, you know when a kid isn’t in a good mood! Looking back, my Mom or Dad would try to cheer me up “don’t worry about it, it’s just a game” or “it’s ok, you did great!”… That didn’t help. That wasn’t the feedback I was looking for or needed, but I appreciate them trying to cheer me up.
After I stopped playing competitive sports and graduated college, as many of you know I went into the personal training field. Shortly after I was turned onto CrossFit and that competitiveness came right back to me. However, the competitiveness was different… it was internal competitiveness to better me… set new personal records, complete certain workouts as prescribed, be able to perform certain/more complex movements… there was so much room to grow and I was hooked.
I remember my first ring muscle up… my first double under… my first 225lb snatch… major milestones I set for myself and the joy and excitement was as palpable as the first walk-off hit I had in high school or overtime goal in soccer. Then I remember opening the gym and doing these things in a group, where people supported you… they became a team of cheerleaders! Matter of fact, they not only support you, but they also WANT YOU TO WIN. And the great thing is that we see this all the time and at different capacities at the gym.
When I opened up Prototype in 2012, I knew that CrossFit could play such a huge impact on others, just as it had done with me. I had seen the impact on my clients as a personal trainer, now I wanted to create a community to scale that impact.
What I didn’t expect to see after opening Prototype in 2012, was the effect that our members would have on their kids. As many of you know, at Prototype, our bread and butter is coaching moms and dads.
I can’t tell you the number of times we’ve seen one of our members get their first double under, or first pull up, or complete their first mile run in 10 years… I also can’t tell you the number of times our members have done these things while their kids were watching.
The thing is, as our community grew, our members started to bring their kids in. At times we would have several kids roaming around the back of the gym on the mats or on the couch at the front of the gym… we even have had our fair share of babies in strollers… just hanging out as mom finished up her workout.
Think about it… when you were a kid, you looked up to your parents… you did what they did. So if you haven’t, think about the example that is being set for them as someone who values their fitness. They see that intensity, that hard work/effort you put in and they also see how happy it makes you. That doesn’t go unnoticed.
I was inspired to write about this because I know so many people that live it. The first thing that came to my mind when thinking about one of our members who has little kids is that they’re SUPERHEROES to their kids.
You’re their superhero… jumping on boxes, picking up weights, running up and down the street. YOU’RE the example of strength and fitness.
Instead of you just being on the sideline cheering on your kids, your kids are on the sidelines cheering you on. For all soon-to-be moms and dads out there reading this, think about the example you want to set for your kids. There are plenty of folks that come to Prototype Training Systems that you can aspire to be.
And for all the current moms and dad’s out there reading this, keep being that example. Remember, your kids are watching you grow up too.