Eye off the ball

In other words, far too many of us adults have allowed the pursuit of fame for our children, whether they be kids who live in our houses or kids we coach, to supersede what we know is best for their welfare and development. In the pursuit of college scholarships or professional paychecks, we become eager to push them into the limelight perhaps before they're ready.

This includes hiring recruiting services to film and market kids to colleges, and writing e-mails to television stations or newspapers to entice them to do pieces on kids to show to colleges.

And is there anything more pathetic than these pseudo news conferences in which a star athlete sits at a table with family, friends and schoolmates, breathlessly waiting for said star to don the cap of his or her choice?

Even worse, we've stricken the innocence from high school sports. A talented kid who plays lacrosse or soccer or football for Broadneck, for example, doesn't just have to worry about beating Severna Park, but also about how he or she plays in that game, just in case a college coach is in the audience or the game is being filmed by a recruiting service to be sent to a university.

And, as a recent op-ed piece from Roland Park teacher-coach Kelsey Twist said, we've turned these kids into de facto employees, more intent on pleasing parents, coaches and prospective college coaches than having fun.

Life will be serious enough soon enough for kids such as Terrelle Pryor and Kevin Hart. Let's let them have fun while they still can.

milton.kent@baltsun.com