Youth is wasted on the young

How did you spend your weekend?

I spent mine at a few U-11 girl's soccer games, and I was amazed at the parental conduct at each of them. Now, I must tell you, I am not a novice at these games. My oldest daughter plays very competitive soccer and has so for years; so I am accustomed to seeing the depths to which parents can sink. However, this weekend, for some reason, really stood out to me.

I am the dad that definitely lives his sports vicariously through his kids. I don't think it is a bad thing - they are more athletically gifted that I was. I love watching them play and play hard and I love to cheer for them. What I don't do is cheer against the other team. Listening to the parents on a variety of teams this weekend basically asking their daughters to "take out" other players - seriously?? Are we going to turn youth sports into our gladiatorial battles? I felt like I was in bizzaro world. If we put even a fraction of that parental passion into encouraging our kids in school we would not be lagging in the worldwide education standards.

What is happening with our society that we push our kids farther and farther and harder and harder. What is childhood anymore? Will our kids remember their childhood as a series of sporting events and activities where adults around them are yelling and behaving like fools? How will they deal with conflict? How will they deal with adversity? Life doesn't give you a referee to blame. How will my kids relay their memories of childhood to their grandkids as they sit on the lanai at Del Boca Vista (phase III)?

On the dental front, what is a good (g-rated) term for the hyper-picky patient.

I'm not talking about the patient that is spending thousands on anterior work to give them that "Julia Roberts" smile. I'm talking about the 40-something smoker with severe maxillary and mandibular malocclusion that wants a small incisal nick repaired and then proceeds to spend 2 follow-up appointments pointing out "imperfections" in the restoration that, quite honestly, don't exist. The restored tooth looks better than any other tooth in the mouth. Unrealistic expectations can just make you dread entering the treatment room.

Yeah, an incisal restoration is the part of your smile that is missing. Let's focus on that, not brushing and flossing or getting orthodontics.

And while we are at it, there are not many bloggers that can incorporate a reference to "Pretty Woman" and a reference to Public Enemy in the same paragraph! (FLAVOR-FLAAAAAAAAV).

Finally, in the spirit of Kanye West, I will probably rudely interrupt John during one of his posts this week to complain that Justin Timberlake's SNL version of "Single Ladies" didn't win a grammy.

What a world we live in. Well I better go make my daughter run sprints because they only tied their game today (serious sarcasm). Putting the voices to bed now, have a great week.

ric