I brought my 4 and 6 year old boys to a cyclocross race this past weekend. They both entered the kids race, just a loop around a flat area of the field. I decided to video tape it, so I was focused more on my boys, but I noticed something odd watching the video again. There was what appeared to be a non-handicapped girl that perhaps couldn't ride on 2 wheels yet, so her dad pushed her for the race. No big deal, except that he was pretty much sprinting and passed both my boys who were hard at work pedaling and she got the bigger trophy.
Am I turning into one of those crazy soccer parents that I always told myself I'd never be?
Not sure what you could do about it now, but cheating is bad....even if it's just the kids event. Actually, it's worse when our children are taught to cheat, or worse yet to remain silent while others cheat them. I am not sure I would have remained silent. Right is right and wrong is wrong....especially with children.
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If an injury has to be done to a man it should be so severe that his vengeance need not be feared. - Niccolo Machiavelli
i 4 y/o can't ride his 2 wheeler with pedals, but he manage 3rd on his balance bike. usually he's more interested in watching the other kids. i can't see pushing his around to make him win. especially since usually all the kids get the same thing. this weekend they actually had prizes for 1-3 places. i found it odd.
And it just hurts in the very best way possible without a high priced dominatrix.---Ronsonic
I'm pretty confident that I've pissed off several dozen random strangers on the internet tonight.---Creakyknees
Me, I just go ask why an adult was awarded a trophy in the kids race, and smirk as they try to justify their answer.
The real answer: next race, bring your running shoes and push your own kid across the line faster than the other dad so that your kid get the trophy. They set the rules, so play by them!
As long as people believe in absurdities they will continue to commit atrocities. Voltaire
A wise and frugal government, which shall leave men free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned - this is the sum of good government. Thomas Jefferson
Your kids were right, it was cheating. It's all pretty amusing to watch the Dad push his daughter but when it came time to give out the trophy's, that should have been taken into consideration. Your boys worked had and hard work should be rewarded. You're not an out of control parent. Your boys should have been rewarded for what they accomplished. I don't like the message it sends to the kids, to award the bigger trophy to the girl who's dad pushed her. I understand it's all suppose to be fun, but still...
It seems like you have this figured out already, but one thing that has helped me from kids races up to last week, is asking just who I want to win for.
If someone wins a race and cheating was involved, then the only way I can see it is that they want to be seen, or known, as the winner. Because they damn sure didn't really beat anyone.
Personally I could not care less about being seen as the best. I want to really be the best. Bringing us to the point that for nearly all of us the levels we race at will never be that important to anyone anyhow. And if one of us does make it to the big time, it likely will not be from results that came from cheating.
You. You are the frame pump noob.
----Creakyknees
then I did it and crawled into bed with my gf and that aspect alone changed EVERYTHING. It felt soooo good
----Ghost234
Another case of parents acting irresponsibly...what a surprise! If dad wanted to push little Suzie around the course so she could finish and have a sense of accomplishment, fine, but pushing her past other little kids and then taking the prize? Maybe we shouldn't blame the parent if he didn't have enough scruples to know any better (maybe that's how he was raised). But what about the adults organizing the race/awarding trophies? They didn't see the inappropriate behavior?...or they didn't have the guts to call the guy out?
At any rate, IMO you made the right call by not raising the issue. You'd probably be resented and portrayed as a partypooper/spoilsport/troublemaker. Look at it as a chance to teach the young'uns a valuable life lesson. There are some people who will try to cheat to get ahead but: "Winners never cheat and cheaters never win!" Except, of course, in politics but they're too young to have that discussion.
I'm not at all bugged by the fact that the dad pushed the girl around... That in and of itself is kinda fun/funny.
I'm bugged by the fact that there were trophies at all for a kids race.
I'm bugged by the fact that some of the trophies were bigger than the others.
I'm bugged by the fact that the fun/funny dad actually let his girl accept one. Not fun. Not funny.
I'm bugged that some kids came away confused by the whole situation (ie yours).
What could have just been a laugh turned into something else entirely by the sounds of it and that's just sad. Without the trophies there isn't a problem by my reasoning.
I feel bad for your kids that they witnessed that moron sprinting around and ultimately winning. They were probably really confused that they had to work, and her dad could push her. Just tell your kids they're awsome because they didn't need any help. I would have said something to that lame morom of a father. 90% of the time people don't realize or care they're in the wrong unless it's pointed out to them. Throwing something at his head wouldn't hurt either- just don't let your kids see ya do it.
"Whatever you do in life will be insignificant. But it's very important that you do it." - Gandhi
www.gardenrunners.blogspot.com
I'm not at all bugged by the fact that the dad pushed the girl around... That in and of itself is kinda fun/funny.
I'm bugged by the fact that there were trophies at all for a kids race.
I'm bugged by the fact that some of the trophies were bigger than the others.
I'm bugged by the fact that the fun/funny dad actually let his girl accept one. Not fun. Not funny.
I'm bugged that some kids came away confused by the whole situation (ie yours).
What could have just been a laugh turned into something else entirely by the sounds of it and that's just sad. Without the trophies there isn't a problem by my reasoning.
I think you pretty much hit it on the head. I'm OK with kids competing at a certain age and getting prizes and all that, but it seems like at that point they need to be on their own.
I think the best kid cross moment I've ever seen was a ~3 year old on a wood kick bike tossing it over barriers and then crawling over them while people riotously cheered. The kid was having tons of fun, the parents we having fun and the kid was doing it on their own. No need to make kids into Cat 1's.
maybe the dad might be compensating for his own failures at life?
maybe his daughter needed some kind of morale-boost from a bad week in kindergarten?
it doesn't sound like it was the daughter who was cheating. it was the father.
i wouldn't even know what to say to someone in that situation. probably wouldn't make much difference anyway.
i suppose if winning is SO important to the guy, then "let the baby have his bottle".
i might explain to my children (which i don't have) that it wasn't the girl who was cheating.
edit: btw, that picture above is really freak'n creepy. aren't those wheels like $5000
Sweep the knee as he is coming by. A little Cobra Kahn as he passed would have taken care of it. You could also teach your sons what not holding your line means as someone is passing (Mark Cavendish him).
He is an idiot to even accept the trophy for his child/girl. The right thing to do in that situation would have to turn around and make a statement and give your son (however came in second) the trophy and he takes the third place position for cheating. They will learn the hard way once she grows up that life is not that easy.
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Originally Posted by Chriscycles
