Lavar Arrington isn’t the only person who believes this. He is one of the few who have went on record to say it. I don’t necessarily disagree with premise of what he is saying, I don’t like the term he used to get his point across.
Sissification implies that you aren’t tough or the parents are weak just because they are concerned about their kid’s health. I do disagree with that, but I think kids need to be able to choose their own path with guidance. A dictatorship parenting style normally leads to more problems than answers.
Here are Lavar’s comments.
In an appearance on ESPN’s Outside the Lines Tuesday afternoon, Arrington said youth football is a valuable tool to teach kids to overcome physical challenges. Not allowing kids to play football would be “sissification,” he said.
“To me, it’s sissification, and I think that’s the only way to put it,” Arrington said. “I will not go through my life scared and I don’t want my children to go through life scared. I started playing football when I was 8 years old and I would never not want to give that opportunity to my children.”
As a parent you are always scared, that is part of being a parent, so I don’t find fault with Kurt Warner or any parent for that matter who is concerned about their child’s safety.
The part that troubles me is that the NFL is becoming a red herring for anything that goes wrong with an ex player. When does some of that responsibility fall on the player, not the game?
Just something to think about.