Advice for parents with children living far away for sports

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Advice for parents with children living far away for sports

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The way that I dealt with really the decision to send my daughter away, and then deal with the separation, I read a book and it was called, "Take the Risk" by Dr. Ben Carson. And in the book he described a method kind of like a pros and cons but in a different way, and he basically listed the way that he approaches if he's going to do surgery, or if he's going to let his children do something, he takes himself through a list of questions, “What's the best thing that can happen if I allow this? What's the worst thing that can happen if I allow this? And what's the best thing that can happen if I don't allow it? And what's the worst thing that can happen if I don't allow it?” And so, I did that and what I found was if I didn't allow Gabrielle to go to Iowa to train with her new coach that if she didn't make the Olympic team then that decision would come back on me and would I be able to live with that for the rest of my life, and would I be able to live with her looking at me having that information. And in the end I decided that I couldn't live with myself if I didn't send her and she didn't make it. And I also thought about the fact that my daughter had an opportunity to make history, and what kind of mother would I be if I stood in the way of that. And so, I really had to become very selfless because as a parent I think it's innate that we're selfish when it comes to our kids, you know, they're ours. And so I had to look at it and take myself out of the equation and look at what was best for her, so I did what I think any parent would do. You know you love your children and you want to see them succeed in life, and it was her ultimate dream, it meant everything to her, and so that I knew that I had do everything in my power to help her achieve her goal.

Watch Natalie Hawkins's video on Advice for parents with children living far away for sports...

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Natalie Hawkins

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Natalie Hawkins is the mother of Gabrielle Douglas, 2012 Olympic All-Around Gold Medalist.  Virginia Beach native and single mother of 4, Hawkins faced many struggles putting Gabrielle through Olympic training, giving up everything she had to see her daughter succeed.  Hawkins allowed her daughter to leave their Virginia Beach home and close family bonds to pursue her dreams, train with Chow's Gymnastics in Iowa, and become the Olympian she is today.  Hawkins has since been honored in the P&G “Thank You Moms” campaign. 

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