He's gonna be a socca playa...

Here he is...

The man. 

Golden Dragons #9.

Ready to perform for his cheering section.

He's off.

There he goes!

Workin' it.

Again.

And again. Getting past it to turn it around.

And a steal! He takes it to the goal...

Going, going... GOAL! I didn't get one of him scoring! Bummer...

But I did get one of his classic, "Look at Mom and Dad who are screaming and cheering like wild banshees" looks.

And nothing like a little congratulatory head rub from Dad.

Here's a little video of him scoring another time....

So how do you get a 4 year old to be really awesome at soccer?

You practice with them lots?

Meh..

You give lots of advice?

Maybe.

You promise them a slurpee if they score a goal?

BINGO.

(Parenting 101 courtesy of Justin)

This is Jarom's first time playing soccer. 

 He was doing really well, but he wasn't scoring.

So when we played against a team where this kid was just scoring like crazy, the coach (who is in our ward) told us that his dad gets him a slurpee for each goal he scores.

Hmmm... excellent idea.

Let's try it.

So before this game, Justin promised Jarom a slurpee if he scored a goal.

 So... he scored his first goal. 

(And then he asked his coach if he could sit out, haha...).

When the next game came (this past Saturday), Justin told him he'd have to score TWO goals to earn a slurpee.

Jarom seemed discouraged. He said two goals was too hard.

But then he started thinking about it...

He asked what if he got THREE goals.

I told him I thought three goals deserved a slurpee AND a little treat.

All those promises of sugar lit a fire under that kid and he was on a MISSION.

He got FOUR goals! 

And he almost had six, two more were super close! It was amazing. He was kicking the ball around kids and cutting through holes to get the ball down the field. He's also super fast, so he would run ahead of kids, stop the ball and take it down to his goal. I was almost in shock at how well he did in that last game. And he was on cloud nine. It was pretty cool.

So Jarom spent his Saturday afternoon enjoying his Cherry Fanta, Pina Colada, Coke slurpee and a lollipop. And also feeling pretty awesome about himself.

I've always tried to push intrinsic rewards with my kids instead of extrinsic ones...  but wow. Slurpees work, my friends. I'm a believer. And I hope now that Jarom knows how good it feels to do so well, he'll want to feel that way again, slurpee or not.

Next post? Makenzie's 3rd soccer season- Jarom's was so long I think Makenzie deserves her own post. :) Coming soon... for the 2 of you who still read my blog. :) Thank you.