Real-Life Decision Making
One of your clients is an 11-year-old football player. This child is probably
one of the best quarterbacks that the town's coach has seen in his career.
He is by far the best player on the team, and the reason the team is currently
in the playoffs.
You have been working with this child in regard to performance enhancement
for over a year now. This is the first time you have been approached by the
mother of this child to help her make a decision.
The mother has come to see you because she has a dilemma. The 11-year-old
did something for which the parent feels he should be punished. She has tried
numerous forms of discipline, but the only thing that seems to make any effect
is taking something away from him -- football.
The child didn't phone home one night when he went to a rescheduled
practice. The mother was frantic because he didn't show up at his normal
time, and she couldn't find him anywhere.
She decided that as a punishment, she would not let him play in Saturday's
game. That game was the first of the playoffs and very important to this child.
The parent felt that by not letting him play, that would teach him a lesson
about being responsible.
The parent is torn, because this has also brought up another issue -- the
coach. She feels that this really is the result of poor coaching. If the coach
had just taken the time to phone all of the parents, rather than just assume
the kids would, then none of this would have happened.
You remind the mother that not only will the child and the coach suffer,
the entire team will as well. The parent argues that because of this, then
they will all learn a lesson from this ordeal. The coach should be aware that
if schedules are changed, then the parents should be notified, and the team
will realize that this is something they should never do or they will have
to suffer the same consequences.
You feel that only parents can decide what punishment is the right one
for their particular child. You also don't want to get involved with
a coaching issue.
What do you do?