Last Saturday, was a rainy and cold day in Minnesota.  We had a soccer game.   It is not the best of weather for a coach.  OK, it is miserable.  Before the soccer game started, I was kicking extra game balls to both goals to speed up the soccer game for when the ball goes out of bounds.  When I kicked the first ball, I fell right on my butt.  Never wear tennis shoes on wet grass and kick a soccer ball!  Whoops!  It happened in front of all my soccer players.  The weird thing is, I was the only one that was laughing at first.  After they saw me laugh, they began to laugh.

I was thinking, after I fell on my butt and laughed at myself, why do some people laugh in those situations, others get mad, and others get embarrassed?  A couple of days later, my son answered the question for me.  He was eating dinner and doing tricks with his sippy cup.  Watch the video and find out how he is having fun with the sippy cup and how he is  laughing at his fun.

He was laughing at himself because he created a new trick.  Instead of us laughing at him, we were laughing with him.  He was having fun.  I could have been mad or embarrassed about me falling on my butt because it was slippery outside.  I am glad I didn’t because if Rylan ever sees me do something silly, I can show him it is OK to laugh at yourself.

As parents, we teach our kids certain reactions.  They are innocent when they are born.  They learn a lot from us.  Teach your kids how to react in situations even if means laughing at yourself for doing something silly.  You are their role model.