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Do Olympians want their children to follow in their footsteps? Surprisingly, most of them don’t.
When “The Today Show” asked Olympian parents whether they had medal aspirations for their children they didn’t get any ringing endorsements for the rigors of a childhood driven by dreams of Olympic glory. From one speed skater who said he planned to keep his children off the ice as long as possible, even if that meant hiding his skates from them, to Picabo Street, who says she’ll encourage her kids sporting aspirations but really just wants them to find what makes them happy, not what made her happy, Olympians seem less than enthused to push their kids into their shoes.
“It’s been a long career for me,” says one athlete, and several other Olympic parents talk about how nerve wracking it would be to see their children put in the kind of danger that this particular games has made all too clear is a part of the Olympic lifestyle.
The one universal theme in these passionately driven people’s dreams for their kids is that they want to “expose their kids to everything” so that their children can find something they love.
What do you think? Would you push your children to a high level of excellence such as the Olympics or would you just let them do what they want to do? Let us know.
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