Lance Armstrong’s Life Lessons for Your Kids - A Blog Item Written by Dr. Ruben Rucoba
Lance Armstrong’s Life Lessons for Your Kids - A Blog Item Written by Dr. Ruben Rucoba
Lance Armstrong’s Life Lessons for Your Kids - A Blog Item Written by Dr. Ruben Rucoba
January 18, 2012
The spectacle that is Lance Armstrong provides a classic teachable moment for your children. If your older children don’t know who Lance Armstong is, then their friends probably do. I see a lot of middle- and high-school students in my office wearing the Livestrong bracelets and T-shirts, so chances are, your children and their pals may be talking about the interview Armstrong did with Oprah Winfrey last night. Whatever your views on Armstrong, his public rise and fall provide fodder for family discussion.
The first lesson is that cheating is never right. I can envision some of your teens laughing in your face when you tell them that. After all, this cheater won seven yellow jerseys and made millions. Sure, but look at his public disgrace now. He had to give back the jerseys and his Olympic medal, and he lost all his sponsors. And he’s going to have to pay back a lot of those millions. Plus he’s got to live with this shame the rest of his life. Older children understand shame, and if they think of when they were ashamed, and then having that broadcast on every channel, they’ll get the point.
The second, and for me the more important lesson, is that lying is never a good idea. I always tell my own kids that if they do something naughty, it’ll be OK. But if they lie about it, that is much worse. Likewise, you can show your children that the lying is what really got Armstrong in trouble. People who do bad things but seem contrite and come clean often get the understanding of those around them. The baseball players who doped are a good example: the ones who admitted it during their careers play on. The ones who deny, deny, deny are ridiculed by their former fans. Reinforce with your older children that you will love them and forgive them, but they have to be honest when confronted with misdeeds. For young children who don’t know about Armstrong, this is the key point. If they ask why that man is on TV, keep it short and simple: “He lied. He’s in big trouble.” Enough said.
Perhaps the most interesting lesson about this scandal is that it is a case study in human nature. Nobody is all good or all bad, and children need to understand that. Is Armstrong the inspirational hero and philanthropist who started a foundation that raised millions for cancer research and helped countless cancer patients? Yes. Is he a cheating, lying moral relativist who bullied anyone who dared to tell the truth and ruined the careers of his friends and teammates? Yes. Few of us will live the highs and lows that Armstrong experienced, but we all have a little bit of the hero and the villain in us, in varying degrees. Children need to know that no one is perfect, but that they should strive to emphasize the hero in themselves every day.
Even if you don’t care about sports and know nothing about competitive cycling, use this episode to teach your children some positive lessons. Use Armstrong’s ugly, shameful behavior to demonstrate how corrupting cheating and lying can be. As it turns out, Armstrong’s biography title was the only true statement he made: it’s not about the bike.