Who do our children look up to? Who are their heroes? I was contemplating this a few weeks ago while I was watching ESPN and they were reporting the alleged drug use of Manny Ramirez. This flashed my memory back to the Alex Rodriguez saga that dominated the sports pages for weeks and it made me think, “Who are kids looking up to today and who do they want to emulate?”
Some commercials that have had the message of kids looking up to athletes are the old Nike ads with Michael Jordan (“I wanna be like Mike”) and more recently Tiger Woods (“I am Tiger Woods”). Don’t get me wrong, I love sports and the athletes who play them. Of course not all of today’s athletes are using drugs and many of them are great role models for our kids. I just think having a child recently has made me contemplate on who my son will want to be like when he grows up.
This weekend we are remembering the lives of the men and women who died for our freedom. Sometimes, unless we have a family member in the Armed Forces, we can so easily be pulled into our daily routines such as going to work, heading to baseball practice, and trying to get home in time for the next reality show on TV. We may not realize the freedoms we have and the people whose lives are on the line protecting our freedoms- protecting you, me, our children. It is these individuals from the Armed Forces to our local policeman and firefighters that I believe should be considered the next time you and your child discuss who it is they look up to.
