A Mother Speaks Out About Phelps
I know Phelps is a swimmer and isn’t in the softball world, but he made headlines earlier this month with his marijuana incident.
I’m just wondering how you feel about that mishap as a sports parent. I understand that people make mistakes and such, but this guy has been talked about as the “Greatest Olympian of All Time.” Do his out of the pool actions affect that in your eyes?
I understand he’s young, but at his age, 23, I was responsible for two young children. I’m with the mother who wrote this article – I don’t think youth is an excuse for his actions. At the same time however, I don’t make too much of his non-swimming actions. I think we live in a society today where so many questionable or less than morale activities are “accepted” in a way that true role models are few and far between. Not only that, I’m sure we all have things in our past that we wouldn’t want broadcast to the entire world. I’m not saying that I condone Phelps behavior, it just seems that anyone who reaches high levels of popularity have their lives completely picked apart until someone finds something to talk about. I just feel like, no matter who is in that position, there’s going to be something to reveal. It’s unfortunate because I really wish there were more truly great role models for my kids, but since there aren’t, it just means that I, as a parent, have to do a better job of teaching my kids what’s right and what’s wrong. Seems to be getting tougher and tougher as the years go by. What do you think?
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