Jumping Through Hoops

            

Do You Have to Jump Through Hoops?

Journey loves to jump through hoops.  He gets a reward each time he completes a task but not everyone gets praise for all the things they do. Let’s discuss who jumps through hoops.

Children jump through hoops to please their parents.  It isn’t easy to make good grades.  Often, kids must study every day after school and pay attention in class to be good achievers.  Of course, they must have good attendance, too.  Kids jump through a lot of hoops.

While we are on the subject of grades, I should mention the person who writes report cards. This is your teacher.  Our professors jump through dozens of hoops for many people.  They are responsible to parents, principals, other teachers, their own families and to children they teach.

The tasks of our instructors are too numerous to mention.  Can you think of some of the things your teacher does each and every day?  Their job starts early in the morning as they prepare their own family for  activities.  This also includes feeding pets and doing household duties.  What are some things you see your teacher do to jump through hoops for you?

Parents are often overloaded with hoops to jump through.  Children demand attention the moment they awaken.  Father must eat breakfast and go to work to pay the bills.  Moms are in charge of household duties and sometimes, another career..  Name some of the tasks a mother must do.  She has at least ten I can think of.

The goal of a family is to successfully complete one day at a time. Hopefully, they work together to get everything done but sometimes, it seems impossible. Can your family accomplish all they need to do in just eight hours?

There are always interruptions. Just when you think you can relax and read a good book, the phone rings and grandmother needs help to get groceries. The neighbor needs help to look for her dog or the car gets a flat tire.  This is when everyone in the family must work together to complete the day.  Everyone jumps through hoops and does more than is expected.  Sometimes, like it or not, we must pitch in and do other people’s jobs. It doesn’t always seem fair but this is called, “jumping through hoops”, in order to keep the family together.

Jumping through hoops “, is an idiom. It is a, figure of speech, that means, to do a lot of things that seem difficult or unnecessary in order to achieve something.  It is when we work harder than we expected.  It means being stronger and having more courage than we ever imagined.

This idiom comes from the tradition of animal performances in the circus.  Large cats were taught to jump through hoops.  The hoops may be set afire for  more drama.  It isn’t natural for these wild animals to do such ridiculous acts.  Do some people go beyond what is natural and easy for them to accomplish a goal? 

 Animals are banned from circuses, now.  No wonder.  They were often treated very badly and kept in the confinement of small cages so that they could make money for people.  Do you ever feel like you are doing more than what is natural and easy for a child?  If so, talk to your parents, a teacher or a counselor.  Maybe someone is making you do too much.

Our family and even our classrooms may seem like a circus act with everyone jumping through hoops to please everyone else.  It doesn’t have to be this way.  We should know when to stop performing and call it quits.

When should we stop jumping hoops?