Institutional Interests: Family Values

Accomplishment of Institutional Goals

New Technology Can Help

This new technology can help a variety of institutions accomplish their chartered institutional goals. It can enable these institutions to meet their primary responsibilities to provide a setting where people can congregate for purposes of life enriching personal growth, social communication, and spiritual enlivenment.

At Home Again

    Across the land, from city to city, suburb to exurb, throughout the countryside and even unto the backcountry, there are many private homes that share a common architecture.  It is not their Rustic nor Elizabethan, Neoclassical nor Georgian, style they similarly share but, rather, it is something else culturally American in its construction.  From its modern beginnings at the time of James Naismith as an open-ended peach basket, oftimes attached to an Oak or Elm tree, the "basketball goal assembly" (as it has now come to be called) can be seen to pixel the landscape of American architecture as a similarly common co-joining construction from private home to private home.  Sometimes the backboard and hoop are found over the garage; at other times, they can be seen mounted on a pole to one side of the driveway, which can function either as an area for visiting friends to park their cars or, alternatively, as an outdoor arena for the private [basketball] court.

    “What,” it may be asked, “is missing from this family picture?”  “Actually... nothing,” it may be answered, when there is ^TheShootingstreak^® PT that can be seen hanging from the backboard and beneath the hoop; thereby, playing its role in the maintenance of the solidarity of the home.  As a supporting structure, it makes its contribution to family life by beckoning all members to come forth and play together in an activity whose appeal can extend beyond the immediate family of spouses and children to embrace the whole family and all sorts of relatives; including brothers and sisters, aunts and uncles, grandparents and cousins, along with various in-laws as well as life partners and life time friends.

    One of the most challenging aspects of family life is to find an activity in which all can participate as a cohesive group.  Typically this is the popular family barbecue or picnic get-together that usually involves imbibing large quantities of liquid along with an accompanying feast of food.  This is wonderful but, for most of us gluttonous, unbridled sedentarians, something is yet missing from this picture.

    For us, as an increasingly health conscious populace, such family fiesta activity actually can be a dangerous practice unless accompanied by some form of movement/exercise to burn off that extra health-threatening food fuel.  The challenge is to discover the way this can be done without disbanding our group to disparate favorite activities such as swimming for the energetic youngsters, walking for the less so vigorous minded adults, and chess playing for the “Gee, I can’t recall the last time I moved” crowd.  What’s needed is a disporting group activity that we all can do at our own level of skill, vigor, and pace.

    What’s needed is for someone to call out, “How about everybody sauntering over to ^TheShootingstreak® PT arena where can be held the after dinner court activities?”  Discussions and cross-talk can continue amidst the general hubbub of the after dinner sport challenge of two family teams determined to engage each other with half court basketball and free throw games, accompanied by half verbal barbs, and half amusing wit. 
    Hey!  Ya'll... Yo!  Remember the family solidarity motto:  “Those who play together, stay together.”

Parent-Child Relationship

    Sometimes as a parent it is difficult to find activities that are interesting to both parent and child and that offer opportunities for both instruction and fun rather than (potentially emotionally disturbing) direct behavior control of the child by the parent.  Isn’t the latter one of the greatest pitfalls for parent-child relations whereby every interaction revolves around the issue of whether or not the child will do as the parent says?  Along with the risk of future fear and avoidance is the risk that Love and Enjoyment will become lost emotions even when conflict is resolved to everyone’s satisfaction and behavior becomes under control.

    Through the use of ^TheShootingstreak^® Personal Trainer (PT) as a training device based upon principles of operant learning, both adults and children are encouraged to think in terms of the tradition of a teaching-model relationship.  This is one in which behavioral habits develop into skills to a large extent in response to consequences.  It is common knowledge that it is the nature of the consequences, as perceived rewards or punishments, which act as incentives to either encourage or discourage an individual’s choice of particular actions in the shaping of one’s performance skills and habit patterns.

Fun-sharing Opportunity

    It is in the mutually shared interest of teaching self-control and confidence, whether of the child or the adult, that ^TheShootingstreak^® PT can play its part as a [basketball] training reinforcer in the development of a person’s mind-body skills. That is, specifically in: coordination, rhythm, timing, and self-confidence in shooting accurately.

    In this regard the parent as coach has the opportunity to demonstrate self-control to the child and to model self-growth while they participate as partners in the constructive fun of learning to play a sport (such as basketball).

That is why when: