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A Surprising Answer

Last Sunday I spent part of the afternoon watching the “58th National Hockey League All-Star Game” from Raleigh, North Carolina. Normally this is a boring game with no hitting and a lot of highly talented players skating around at about half speed. One interview, though, made it worth my time.

During the third period, the CBC’s Scott Oake interviewed Daniel Briere from the Philadelphia Flyers. Following that, Oake turned to Briere’s thirteen year old son, Caelan, who was standing on the player’s bench behind his dad and asked, “What has been the best part of the All Star weekend for you?”

Did Caelan talk about meeting all the players? Did he mention getting to watch the All Star game from the player’s bench? Did he talk about the big hotel room that the NHL made available to his family? Did he mention all the stuff that the game sponsors gave them? Did he say that he liked all the good food in the fancy restaurants?

If you saw it, you know that he did not mention any of those things. His answer: “The best part of this weekend has been hanging out with my dad”.

Now the cynics out there will say, “Oh sure, he was coached to say that”, but I don’t think that is true. It was an interview done off the cuff in the middle of the game and I think that was his real answer.

These days, it is easy to think that we need to provide all kinds of expensive and lavish things for our children (and if you can do that, great!). However, our kids need our time, love and attention much more than they need more “stuff”. They will remember your relationship with them long after the “stuff” is gone.

Caelan Briere is a good example of that.

“Start children off on the way they should go, and even when they are old they will not turn from it” (Proverbs 22:6).

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