The Olympics have always inspired me.  One of my earliest memories is of sitting on the living room floor of our home in 1976 watching the Summer Olympic games in Montreal.  It was a small black-and-white TV, but I was still enthralled with the speed and accomplishments of the many athletes from around the world.

As the fans and my parents got excited, I got excited.  When they cheered, I cheered.  When they celebrated for winning the Gold Medal, I was on the podium with them pretending to accept the medal on behalf of 4-year-olds everywhere. I wanted to be an Olympian when I grew up.

I learned a lot from watching those games, and the ones in subsequent years thereafter.  I developed a great appreciation for athletic accomplishments, as well as the self-discipline and determination that goes along with being the best at something.  The Olympics were a symbol of both excellence and pride for me.

This year, as I watched the 2008 Summer Olympics Opening Ceremonies with my family, it got me thinking about the valuable lessons these games could teach my kids.

Here’s 5 Life Lessons the Olympics Can Help Teach Kids:

1.  Hard work and discipline are rewarded.  When you’re on the world stage, everyone has talent.  It takes more than talent to be called the best in the world – it takes hard work.  It also takes discipline and focus to train at a level to make yourself a legitimate contender.  These efforts are rewarded by not only a medal to the winners, but also pride in each of the competitors for representing their countries and making it to the Olympics.

2.  Embrace diversity.  The Olympics are one of the best displays of diversity I’ve ever seen.  Almost every race, religion, nationality and creed on our planet is represented.  Kids are interested in where exactly athletes come from, which creates an awesome opportunity to pull out a map and show them.  It also demonstrates to kids that color or country of origin, among other things, does not determine your worth or value in an athletic venue – talent, skill, drive and determination are what matter most.  Finally, it creates the opportunity to talk with kids about how differences in appearance do not equate to differences in ability, worth or value of an individual.

3.  The significance of individual achievement.  One of the greatest needs of a human being is the need to feel significant, and one way a person fulfills this need is through individual achievement.  The Olympics provide hundreds of examples of individual achievement for kids to witness, and in turn, dozens of opportunities for parents to talk about and discover what types of things each child might be interested in achieving in his/her life.

4.  You’re a winner, even if you lose an event.  Unlike the local little league field, filled with overzealous parents, the Olympics tend to bring out the best in people.  The medal winners always congratulate each other, as well as fellow teammates and competitors that may not have placed in the top 3.  They are trained to be “good sports,” and it creates the opportunity to show kids how real ‘winners’ are both competitive and gracious.  Olympians are all winners, whether they attain a medal or not; and, our kids should feel the same way about participating in a sport or activity and giving their best efforts – win or lose.

5.  Teamwork requires putting others before yourself.  Volleyball, relay events, basketball and even water polo can teach kids that teams of athletes win by leveraging individual strengths and applying them toward a common goal.  Victory is achieved through the ability to harness collective efforts, as well as individual members knowing when to lead and when to support each other.  Kids can witness a different dimension of teamwork at the Olympics, something more easily to relate to than professional sports where everything seems to be about money, fame and getting your own sneaker line.  And, kids can see firsthand how putting others before themselves produces an inspirational victory for everyone involved.

I wonder if my kids will have the same types of memories about the Olympics as I do.  With XBox, iPod and, oh yeah, the Internet, there are a lot more distractions and entertainment options now than when I was a kid.  I’m going to do my best to expose them to the Games, though, and I can only hope that one or more of them will want to pursue a similar form of excellence in some part of their lives too.

Are there any lessons you teach your kids gleaned from the Olympics?  Do you have any early, special memories of the Summer or Winter Games? Please share in the comments.

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