{"id":2685,"date":"2012-09-11T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2012-09-11T04:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/webinology.website\/nation2021\/how-to-teach-your-kids-about-being-a-team-player\/"},"modified":"2021-11-03T13:01:58","modified_gmt":"2021-11-03T17:01:58","slug":"how-to-teach-your-kids-about-being-a-team-player","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.coachup.com\/nation\/articles\/how-to-teach-your-kids-about-being-a-team-player","title":{"rendered":"How to Teach Your Kids About Being a Team Player"},"content":{"rendered":"

How to Teach Your Kids About Being a Team Player<\/strong><\/p>\n

When my son was younger, he played on a basketball team with a group of athletes who were more interested in playing for their individual glory than for the glory of the team. Over and over again, the coach would chew them out for their individualistic attitudes. Each time, they\u2019d come out and play unselfishly for about half a game before reverting to their old habits. Parents complained about certain players. Players complained about certain players. Even the newspaper bloggers noticed the selfishness of certain players. But nothing changed.<\/p>\n

Why is it that high school players — who have probably heard since they were little about the importance of being team player — are still playing the sport so selfishly? As parents, we can talk about the importance of being a team player until we are blue in the face. Our young athletes may be hearing us, but are they really listening? Maybe. But most likely not.<\/p>\n

What they are <\/em>listening to is our actions. And if we don\u2019t model a team player attitude before them, it will probably never really sink in. We must teach our children about teamwork by modeling it. One time I went with a group of coworkers to a women\u2019s recovery center where, in 2 1\/2 hours, we painted 2 living rooms and 3 bedrooms in 2 small apartments. Some taped, others spackled, some rolled paint, others used brushes.<\/p>\n

No one\u2019s job was more important than others. We didn\u2019t keep track of how many walls we painted or how many holes we spackled. We achieved our goal: newly painted apartments.<\/p>\n

That was teamwork.<\/p>\n

And the more we live that out before our kids, the more they will get the idea that teamwork really is the best way to get things done. There are many ways to model teamwork:<\/p>\n