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Inspiration from Friday Night Lights

Written on February 17, 2012 by Deb Chitwood in Character, Inspiration

“Clear Eyes, Full Hearts, Can’t Lose!” Word-Art Freebie

If you’re suffering from football withdrawal now that the Super Bowl is over, the Friday Night Lights series on DVD might be just what you need! Of course, maybe you’ve already seen the whole series. My husband and I just finished it … we’re suffering from Friday Night Lights withdrawal at the moment.

My family actually didn’t watch network television except for figure-skating competitions and the Super Bowl. Instead, we watched movies on DVD (video when our kids were little). Now that we’re empty nesters, my husband and I love to order critically-acclaimed series through Netflix.

Friday Night Lights TV Series

The Friday Night Lights TV series is based on a bestselling book and movie of the same name. Set in the fictional town of Dillon in West Texas, the show has a lot to say both about the importance of family and about the sacrifices and responsibility required to follow your dreams.

If you love American football or just enjoy sports movies in general, you’ll probably love Friday Night Lights. For teenagers and older, there are lots of great character lessons and heart-warming family situations to be found in the 5-season series – a series that even has a satisfying ending.

For teenagers, I recommend using the series as a basis for the discussions that are important for parents to have with teenagers. There are a lot of actions going on in the series that I wouldn’t have wanted my own children to participate in, but I think those actions need to be discussed openly during the teenage years.

Here are a few examples of inspiration and character education from Friday Night Lights:

Quotes from Coach Eric Taylor:

“Clear Eyes, Full Hearts, Can’t Lose!” Team Motto

“Life is so very fragile. We are all vulnerable. And we will all at some point in our lives fall. We will all fall. We must carry this in our hearts. That what we have is special.”

“Every man at some point in his life is going to lose a battle. He is going to fight and he is going to lose. But what makes him a man is at the midst of that battle he does not lose himself. This game is not over, this battle is not over.”

“You can’t beat yourself up because you’re taking chances on things.”

“He joins my team, he’s on my field, he’s got a family.”

“…what football celebrates is teamwork and character if executed properly, that’s what it celebrates.”

“A few will never give up on you. When you go back out on the field, those are the people I want in your minds. Those are the people I want in your hearts.”

“…there’s a joy to this game, is there not? There’s a passion, there’s a reason why we’re all out here. Other than the fact the pride that it gives us and the respect that it demands we love to play the game so let’s go out there and have fun tonight.”

“There are more important things than football.”

It was recently announced that a movie script based on the Friday Night Lights TV series is almost finished. Yay!

Are you a Friday Night Lights fan?

Tags: character, Coach Eric Taylor, Coach Eric Taylor quotes, Friday Night LIghts, Friday Night Lights fan, Friday Night Lights TV series, Inspiration

Courage in Sports and in Life

Written on January 20, 2012 by Deb Chitwood in Character, Faith and Sports, Inspiration

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A truly amazing character trait sports can help develop is courage. The most inspiring sports stories involve courage, and I’m sure that’s the case with the most inspiring life stories as well.

Tebowing Courage

Even though the Denver Broncos’ football season is over now, courage has been in the sports news a lot this year, thanks to the Tim Tebow phenomenon. I’m one of those who loved watching Tebow show the courage to express his faith so publicly.

Of course, some may ridicule the concept of “Tebowing.” (“Tebowing: (vb)- to get down on a knee and start praying, even if everyone around you is doing something comepletely different.” [Tebowing.com]) But in a Fox Sports article, Tim Tebow tells one of the best things about people Tebowing. He says:

“It’s not my job to see people’s reasons behind it, but I know [of a kid] with cancer that tweeted me, ‘Tebowing while I’m chemoing’ — how cool is that?” Tebow said. “That’s worth it right now. If that gives him any encouragement or puts a smile on his face, or gives him encouragement to pray, that’s completely awesome.”

Courage in Facing Fear

And I loved hearing about the courageous last-minute game moves Tim Tebow has become known for.

An article from Yahoo! Sports has an interesting take on Tebow’s many late-game comebacks. It says:

What Tebow does, better than just about any other quarterback, is approach danger. Embrace danger.

I’ve seen that many times in figure skating as well. The skaters who show fear in events where fear is completely understandable have the worst performances. The skaters who aggressively and seemingly fearlessly attack their programs have the skate of their lives at the biggest and most difficult competitions.

I’d like to have more of that type of courage myself. How about you?
“Saddling up Anyway” Word-Art Freebie

Inspiration from Soul Surfer, Bethany Hamilton (and word-art freebie)

Photo at top of post by Magic Mermaid at Flickr Creative Commons.

Linked with Thought-Provoking Thursday.

Tags: Bethany Hamilton, character, courage, Soul Surfer, Tebowing, Tim Tebow

How to Help Your Kids Have an Attitude of Gratitude, Part 2

Written on November 11, 2011 by Deb Chitwood in Character, Gratitude, Parents' Role

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Last spring, I published a post called How to “How to Help Your Kids Have an Attitude of Gratitude.” I think gratitude is important year-round, but November is a perfect month to place an extra emphasis on gratitude. Maybe there are some gratitude activities you’d like to start for your family. Or maybe you’d like to do something different just for the month.

The Power of Gratitude

“When we give cheerfully and accept gratefully, everyone is blessed.” Maya Angelou

“Jack Canfield – How Gratitude Changed This Multi-Millionaire’s Life.” The beginning of this video is a truly inspiring story of the power of gratitude.

Family Gratitude Activities

Here are some more family gratitude activities you could choose from. Just find the activity you feel drawn to, an activity you think would be fun and meaningful for your family.

Light a Candle from Gratefulness.org is a beautiful online activity that encourages thoughtfulness and thankfulness.

Education.com has an article on “Teaching Gratitude.” It recommends three activities:

Keep a family “gratitude journal” or lists of things family members are thankful for….

Slow down and smell the roses. “Savoring” good experiences can heighten positive emotions. Adults can teach kids to savor positive events by habitually expressing gratitude when nice things happen, even if they are very small things. Simply stop what you are doing and express thanks for the moment—a beautiful sunset, the chance to smile at a baby, the opportunity to be with your child.

Write “gratitude letters” large and small….

Kristina Belnap at Parent Guide News has an article called “Attitude of Gratitude.” Her suggestions are to:

Model Gratitude

Expect your child to show gratitude.

Go guilt-free.

Commit random (but regular) acts of service and gratitude.

“Gratitude Dance” This is just fun, and a gratitude dance is an activity that could work well if your family loves to move and dance together.

I have a new post at Living Montessori Now called “Montessori-Inspired Gratitude Activities” with links to lots of resources.

And I keep adding family gratitude activities along with other Thanksgiving activities to my Kids’ Thanksgiving Activities Pinterest board. There are links to posts for a Thanksgiving tree (many different types of Thanksgiving tree), gratitude journal, gratitude bowl, gratitude jar, gratitude board, and gratitude garland. I love that Pinterest is so visual. Hopefully, you’ll find an activity that appeals to you.

Do you have a family gratitude activity during November or year-round?

Linked with Thought-Provoking Thursday.

Tags: attitude of gratitude, family gratitude activities, gratitude

Win with Style, Lose with Style

Written on November 4, 2011 by Deb Chitwood in Character, Inspiration

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I love to see examples of great sportsmanship! Otherwise, it’s sometimes too easy to forget that a sport is a game.

There’s a great quote by former Major League Baseball player Ken Griffey, Jr.:

“I go out there and have fun. It’s a game, and that’s how I am going to treat it.”

That can be applied to many aspects of life. Enjoying every moment of sport and life will help us keep things in perspective.

And I like the Chant Chargers Volleyball Rules to Play By (find link on page to download rules). There are lots of great quotes in their rules along with some rules of sportsmanship.

Always be a good sport, no matter how the game ends.

If we lose …

• Don’t get mad! ( There’s always the next game! )

• Don’t be a whiner!

• Don’t blame it on the refs!

• Don’t blame it on your teammates!

• Don’t have a bad attitude … it’s JUST a game.

• Think about what you can to do play better or improve our game next time.

No one likes to play with a poor loser.

If you’re a good sport, more kids will want to play with you and you’ll have more fun.

If we win …

• Don’t show off

• Don’t rub the other team’s face in it

It’s fun to celebrate a victory, but don’t overdo it!

ALWAYS congratulate your opponents and your teammates for playing well.

Be an example to others. There is always someone watching and listening to you. We represent ourselves, the Lady Chargers [insert your own team or club], our family, and God. We want to be good role models for those around us!

Win With Style, Lose With Style

“Win with Style, Lose with Style” Word-Art Freebie

Showing good sportsmanship isn’t always easy. That’s probably why we all appreciate examples of great sportsmanship so much. Here are some other posts I published with examples of great sportsmanship.

Here are a couple more examples of great sportsmanship:

An example from June 2010 – “Perfect Sportsmanship – No hard feelings between pitcher and the umpire who denied him a perfect game.”

An example from this week – “Teen rowers give up medal dreams to help capsized foes” from Yahoo Sports.

Whatever our sport or challenge in life is, I hope we can all learn to win with style, lose with style.

Photo Credit: Photo by Kathy McEldowney at Flickr Creative Commons (License).

Linked with Thought-Provoking Thursday.

Tags: great sportsmanship examples, Ken Griffey Jr., sportsmanship, win with style lose with style

Do You Follow the Thumper Theory?

Written on October 28, 2011 by Deb Chitwood in Character, Making a Difference, Parents' Role

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I’m a real believer in the Thumper Theory.

“If you can’t say something nice . . . don’t say nothing at all.”

- Thumper from the movie Bambi

I first heard of the Thumper Theory from Allison Scott, mother of Jeremy Abbot, who is a 2-time U.S. men’s figure skating champion. Allison and I live in the same city, and our kids trained at the same rink for a number of years.

In sports where there are too many online rants and criticisms of athletes, I find the Thumper Theory to be a breath of fresh air. But it doesn’t apply just to sports. Many people are calling for more online civility in general – along with more civility in real life.

One year ago today, this was posted at the Reveal Your Character site:

Worldwide, per second, there are approximately 28 million text messages, 700 status updates to Facebook, 600 tweets on Twitter; 1 million videos watched onto YouTube and 285 million emails. We have the wonderful, yet dangerous ability to spread ideas and information around the world quickly.

Somewhere along the line, we’ve started using those new tools as another way to be disrespectful and uncivil. And not only does it hurt people, it can ruin lives (as evident by the suicides of Phoebe Prince and Tyler Clementi).

I imagine those numbers are much greater today. And that makes it all the more important that we take responsibility to be civil online as well as in person.

Resources to Help Kids:

Online Civility for Kids from Reveal Your Character

Stop Cyberbullying

Be a Bulldog! Not a Bully! August 23, 2011 post from According to Sherman

It’s a Great Day to Focus on Character

What About Your Kids’ Character?

“Say Something Nice” Inspiration

My wish is that adults and kids alike can follow the Thumper Theory both online and in real life.

Here’s a sweet example of the Thumper Theory at work in real life:

“Say Something Nice”

Here’s a post with more information about the “Say Something Nice” mission from Improv Everywhere.

“Say Something Nice” Word-Art Freebie

So, let’s all say something nice!

Linked with Thought-Provoking Thursday.

Tags: Bambi, character, civility, Improv Everywhere, online civility, say something nice, Thumper, Thumper Theory

It’s a Great Day to Focus on Character!

Written on October 21, 2011 by Deb Chitwood in Character

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Today’s part of Worldwide Character Counts! Week, which makes it a great day to focus on character. But, actually, every day is a great day to focus on character.

If you’d like to know what you can do right away in your family, here are some suggestions:

Register for Character Counts! Week and check out some of the resources.

The Film Clips for Character Education are only available for free through tomorrow. If you don’t see this until after October 22, you can still study film clips (maybe on YouTube) or watch a movie like Babe and ask the following questions on the theme of respect from Film Clips for Character Education: The Six Pillars of Character Part 1 Study Guide:

What kind of leadership did Babe show when he tried to be like a sheepdog?

Was it Babe’s fault when he tried to be mean and aggressive like a sheepdog?

What attitude and behavior were successful in getting the sheep to do what Babe wanted?

Is it better to force someone to do something or to persuade them to do it? Why?

Or watch a movie like Cool Runnings and ask questions on the theme of trustworthiness:

Why did the coach think it was necessary to cheat?

Why did he decide to tell the truth about his past cheating?

Are successful people you know truthful people? Do they keep their promises?

Can you ever redeem trust? If so, how?

Start reading a book of your own or with your family that emphasizes positive values.

When my kids were growing up, we especially loved to read biographies and autobiographies of inspirational individuals, The Book of Virtues, and Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Little House on the Prairie series.

Here’s a video based on another book that’s great for helping kids develop positive character traits:

Have You Filled a Bucket Today?

Bucket Fillers website

Use comic strips to discuss character.

If you have teenagers, you could use the Doonesbury Discusses CHARACTER COUNTS! Week series and lesson plans as a starting point. For younger kids, pick an age-appropriate comic that has a good example for a character discussion.

Plan to do something to make a difference. It can even be a family project.

Here’s today’s Character Counts! Week Daily Character Idea for Kids:

Find Out Friday

Is there a pressing issue in your community? Find out how you can get involved and help make things better for everyone. Research the issue and groups that are taking action on it to find out what you can do.

Along with making a difference in your community, there are many ways you can make a difference from home. I talked about a few in my Make a Difference from Home post last year. Since then, I’ve found more resources and added them to my Make a Difference page.