“They better be gritty,” Falcons QB Kirk Cousins intends to raise his boys up through tough love as he hopes for them to become resilient individuals
Cousins does not intend to force his sons to follow along on his footsteps.
Kirk Cousins (via IMAGO)
Kirk Cousins is revered across the NFL as a role model, the gold standard on how a quarterback must conduct himself on the field, in the locker room, and public. This offseason, he has gotten a change of scenario after the trade to the Atlanta Falcons. His family has relocated from Minnesota to Atlanta and with the changes, come new challenges. Cousins is a father to two sons, Cooper and Turner, aged six years and five years respectively.
His children are still relatively young but soon enough, they will face the pressure of having to follow in his footsteps and succeed at football, athletics, or a sport. Kirk Cousins recently went on the Bussin with the Boys podcast wherein he was candid about the challenges he faces while raising two boys and the de facto pressure that falls on them to thrive at sports.
We're raising two boys, I don't care if they're good at sports, I don't care if they're good at school, I don't care. They better be gritty. If my boys are soft, I got a problem, so I always say, like, I just got to make sure when they're walking across the high school graduation stage that I know my boys have grit.Kirk Cousins said, keeping it simple
To him, ensuring that his sons can build strong character traits is of more importance than their ability and interest in playing sports.
“We’re raising 2 boys. I don’t care if they’re good at sports. I don’t care if they’re good in school. They better be gritty” –@KirkCousins8@BussinWTB presented by @ChevyTrucks #ad #chevy #Silverado pic.twitter.com/ngdjeZPz0G
— Barstool Sports (@barstoolsports) May 14, 2024
Kirk Cousins believes in being a tough father to ensure he raises his kids the right way
He further went on to share his parenting philosophy. Kirk Cousins does not intend to coddle and sweet-talk his kids every time they complete the smallest of tasks.
I think first of all when they're good at something, I don't want to tell them, boy, you're really good at that, you're really talented. I want to say to them, I love how hard you worked because I want the feedback to be that you didn't just show up...I want them to think I did it well because I worked at it.Kirk Cousins added
He intends to inculcate a habit of working hard within them from an early age. The quarterback will recognize the talents of his children and appreciate them for the same but when he is lauding them over their achievements, he will do so by acknowledging the work put into honing the craft of his children rather than calling them talented or just telling them that they are good at it.
What this does is that it leads his sons to believe that hard work does wonders. It encourages them to work for and towards their goals and gives them a mindset that everything is achievable if you work hard enough. Cousins has his priorities set right, as a parent, he cannot control what might interest his kids and their future career paths but he does have a pivotal role to play in forming their mentality. By focusing on making them resilient and encouraging them to work hard, he is setting the right example as a parent. Even if both of his children do not play sports, they will surely end up having an athlete’s mentality.
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Sumedh Joshi
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