Influence

You think youngsters aren't influenced by what they see on television or in other forms of media? They sure are and it's obvious at our house the Olympics are having a positive influence. I have 3 daughters who always liked gymnastics and participated a little bit. A couple of my daughters can do the round off flip-flops and all that other flipping stuff. So of course, when my daughter Olivia and 4 year old granddaughter Lyla were at our house the other night they were glued to the TV watching the USA women's team winning the Gold.

A little later my wife went into our bedroom and Lyla was playing on our bed. And what grandma (my wife) saw was pretty cool. At the foot of our bed is a foot board that has a about a 3 inch wide board at the top that resembles a small balance beam in gymnastics. There was Lyla on the foot board walking and balancing doing her beam routine. She was definitely influenced by what she saw on TV. Well, it just so happens that we had Olivia's old balance beam in our garage. It's only 6 feet long and stands about 6 inches off the ground so it's kind of a mini beam. A good friend of mine built it for Olivia about 25 years ago. Lyla's eyes lit up when she saw a "real" balance beam that was her mom's when she was a little girl. Olivia loaded it up in her van and took it home. Lyla was so excited and couldn't wait to use it.

A little kid can use their imagination and have fun with anything. Who would have thought the foot board of our bed would be turned into a balance beam by a 4 year old? That's the influence of sports and shows the power of sport. Let's always use that power wisely. www.chiefpigskin.com