I recently filled in to teach a seniors fitness class, I also train athletes on a regular basis. One could argue these are two extremes. For argument sake, let’s put the student athletes in the category as ‘kids’.
So I walk into the class where a large number of seniors are waiting for their ‘substitute instructor’ to get started, the first thing I hear is, ‘Don’t treat us like we’re old, we can exercise too!’.
I thought to myself FANTASTIC! I love that mind set. So you know what, I treated them as they wished, like an equal to any other class I’d teach. Sure modified but every class I do is modified in some way.
Take the other end of the pendulum. Kids, student athletes, the younger generation, however you want to put it. Every single day written on their face is something similar to ‘don’t treat us like we’re old’. Except they’re saying ‘don’t treat us like we’re kids’.
And you know what, I don’t. I treat every single student athlete like they are a grown adult, because they are, some just don’t know it. My expectations are the same, I push them the same way if not more, and they appreciate it. Because they don’t want to be treated as less than, just like the seniors.
I don’t think anyone is much different in this world, a coworker or a boss, a grocery store clerk or the manager. Don’t we all wanted to be treated like a regular person? Sure some people want more and others don’t think much of themselves and accept less.
But the truth is, we’re all the same, we’ve all had our struggles, we all came from relatively the same place and we’ll likely all end up the same place as well.
If we treat one another how we’d like to be treated in any given situation, we’d all appreciate one another that much more. Which would make this world a better place to live in.
