This week's Pep Talk: "Joy, not Regret"

It’s a lazy Saturday afternoon and I’m blessed to be sitting in Vail, Colorado, at the Red Lion, a popular local hangout. A folk singer is providing entertaining live music, a bartender is supplying cold beer and a weekend Denver Post is offering news of the day.

A picture in the sports section captures my attention. It’s former NBA player Dennis Rodman, overcome with emotion, giving his induction speech. Dressed eccentric as usual, the former Piston, Laker and Spur rebounding machine was grateful for the great coaches of his life who taught him how to play like a champion and remorseful for children neglected as a father.

Ironically, I had observed this picture just seconds after texting my 21-year-old son and congratulating him for being such a responsible older brother to his 14-year-old sister who recently visited the aspiring television producer in Los Angeles. One of the real challenges of being a twice divorced father of two great kids - one from each marriage - is the reality they don’t get to spend much time together. I’m very grateful for the time they do hang together even if, at their age, it’s time they’d rather spend solo, without their old man lurking.

Is there anything more important in life than, and I know it ain’t easy, being a responsible parent? My goodness, our children didn’t ask to be brought into this world, right? We created them, isn’t it our responsibility to show, not tell, them through our thoughts, words and actions, how to play like champions wherever they roam?

I don’t know how many kids - Wikipedia says three - Rodman has fathered over the years but his crazy lifestyle certainly has made far more headlines than accolades for parenting prowess. I find it also ironic that, during the emotional address, the New Jersey native understood the value coaches brought into his life.

It makes me think of mentors. Whether we’re talking home, work or elsewhere, including basketball, we are heavily influenced by mentors, another name for a coach. A friend of mine, with a good track record of coaching success in football and life, once told me a great definition for a coach. It comes from former Dallas Cowboy head coach Tom Landry, considered one of the greatest mentors in NFL history. Landry once said, when speaking of coaching: “A coach is a person who requires others to do what they don’t want to do in order to achieve things they’ve always dreamed of doing.”

Rodman had others who helped him achieve - Hall of Fame induction - things most could only dream of doing. For whatever reason, at least to this point in the 49-year-old’s life, he’s remorseful for underachieving when it comes to being hall-of-fame old man.

But here’s the beauty of life. It’s never too late to begin. It’s never too late to tell your children how much you love them, believe in them and support their pursuit of healthy and productive dreams. Perhaps more important than telling them, is to show them.

Parenting is coaching. It ain’t easy and there’s no guarantee of success but give it your best shot. Let’s work like heck this week to make sure any tears concerning kids are tears of joy, not regret.