Winning a family fight..!
Robert Clements
Monday, September 26, 2011 - The newspapers all had articles on Omar Abdullah the young Chief Minister of Kashmir splitting up with his wife. Some even carried pictures of his two sons and in those photos the family looked happy together. Obviously they had all stopped being happy together.
How often, family fights split a family: Maybe we don’t need to treat these fights as wars or battles. Winston Churchill said, “We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills.” A humorist Bob Orben said, “That sounds a lot like our family vacations.” And for some people it sounds a lot like everyday life.
The problem is not whether we who live in families have squabbles, arguments and fights. My worry is more whether those conflicts will end anytime soon.
I don’t want home life to become the Hundred Years’ War - going on and on with no end in sight while the casualties mount.
Conflicts need to have an ending so that the family can get about its real business. At one point during a cricket match, the coach of a local team said to one of his young players, “Do you understand what cooperation is? What a team spirit is?” The little boy nodded yes.
“Do you understand that what matters is whether we win together as a team?” The little boy nodded yes. “So,” the coach continued, “when you are clean bowled, or you when you are caught you don’t argue or curse or attack the umpire. Do you understand all that?” Again, the boy nodded yes.”Good,” said the coach. “Now go over there and explain it to your mother.”
I believe a family should be like a cricket team. A successful family wins as a team. But if its members are intent upon winning their own individual battles with one another, the team loses. A winning solution is to work out your differences and, when that’s over, let it be over. Then get back in the game as a team. We need to think of our family as a team, ourselves and our youngsters, as players going out to bat, bowl or field and each needs all the encouragement and support they can get from their other teammates which are the rest of the family.
When they do get that support, you’ll find dad becoming successful at his job, mother enjoying hers or doing a great one as a homemaker and the children enjoying their school and excelling. Have your squabbles, but go out like a team and win the matches that life keeps offering everyday; that’s winning a family fight..!
—Email:bobsbanter@gmail.com
How often, family fights split a family: Maybe we don’t need to treat these fights as wars or battles. Winston Churchill said, “We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills.” A humorist Bob Orben said, “That sounds a lot like our family vacations.” And for some people it sounds a lot like everyday life.
The problem is not whether we who live in families have squabbles, arguments and fights. My worry is more whether those conflicts will end anytime soon.
I don’t want home life to become the Hundred Years’ War - going on and on with no end in sight while the casualties mount.
Conflicts need to have an ending so that the family can get about its real business. At one point during a cricket match, the coach of a local team said to one of his young players, “Do you understand what cooperation is? What a team spirit is?” The little boy nodded yes.
“Do you understand that what matters is whether we win together as a team?” The little boy nodded yes. “So,” the coach continued, “when you are clean bowled, or you when you are caught you don’t argue or curse or attack the umpire. Do you understand all that?” Again, the boy nodded yes.”Good,” said the coach. “Now go over there and explain it to your mother.”
I believe a family should be like a cricket team. A successful family wins as a team. But if its members are intent upon winning their own individual battles with one another, the team loses. A winning solution is to work out your differences and, when that’s over, let it be over. Then get back in the game as a team. We need to think of our family as a team, ourselves and our youngsters, as players going out to bat, bowl or field and each needs all the encouragement and support they can get from their other teammates which are the rest of the family.
When they do get that support, you’ll find dad becoming successful at his job, mother enjoying hers or doing a great one as a homemaker and the children enjoying their school and excelling. Have your squabbles, but go out like a team and win the matches that life keeps offering everyday; that’s winning a family fight..!
—Email:bobsbanter@gmail.com
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