I grew up in a family where we always had a dog. We were a German Shepherd family, and I fondly remember each of my pets' names and the daily joy they provided.
These companions were important members of my family.
It's been reported that dogs help humans live longer, so why wouldn't everyone want a dog, right?
Regardless of what's going on in our lives, they are always ready to lick your face or wag their tail to tell you how much they love you.
If we were to describe our ideal human friend, we would all want someone who's a loyal, positive, great listening up-lifter, always willing to give of themselves.
These characteristics could easily describe our favorite dog.
As I've grown older, I realize the greatest benefit of man's best friend is how they reduce our stress levels.
Life is filled with obstacles and situations that can heap huge amounts of stress upon our shoulders.
As adults, do we become better at handling stress? Looking around at athletic events, I'm not convinced we can conclude that.
What about our kids? How do they handle pressure?
I always thought sports were a great place to blow off steam, and I still do in the right situations.
However, as long as adults keep forcing kids into athletics on their terms instead of letting the kids play, stress will continue to exist and mount.
I'm not against a child experiencing butterflies before a big game, because that helps us prepare for life. However, as soon as we turn every game into a big game, then kids will suffer and break down. Maybe that's why the suicide and obesity rates are higher than ever.
Kids are trying to tell us, they don't like being treated like a commodity anymore.
Putting a 1st grader on a traveling team so they can begin preparing for their varsity season twelve years down the road is absurd.
Does everything have to be organized? Does everything have to be tournament-related?
What happened to the driveway time? What happened to good old-fashioned 1-on-1 or 2-on-2 games on the playground?
Where have all the pick-up baseball games gone that used to be played in the back field with no adults present?
We must stop putting unrealistic expectations on our kids and let them enjoy the journey.
We have to end the anointing of our children as being the next 5-star prospect or prodigy.
Our children want stability, consistency and loyalty - exactly what a dog provides.
They want coaches who care enough to catch them smoking on a bridge and help them get involved in something productive.
They want parents, not just their pets, who will love them unconditionally.
They want a stress-free environment they can trust, like sports used to be until adults goofed it up.
The best part is we can fix it too, and we won't have to pretend to wag our tail like a dog.