Different Approaches to Teaching a Child Pool

Back in late January, my boyfriend and I went to practice some one pocket on one of the beautiful nine foot tables at Rusty's Billiards in Fort Worth.  It was about 4pm on a Saturday afternoon and hardly anyone was in the place.  It was a great day outside and I'm sure many others were taking advantage of that, while we worked on our one pocket skills.

Then an older gentlemen and (I'm guessing) his grandson come in and get a nearby table, about 4 tables down.  Each had their own cue, three generations apart playing pool - I thought it was very cool.

Then I hear a loud voice, "If you are going to act like that, then we can just leave."  I turn around and the young bog (about ten) has his arms crossed as he sits on the chair with a scowl on his forehead, on the verge of tears. 

"But I want to play," the boy retorts loudly.

"Well, get up here and listen to me then."

The boy hesitantly gets up and then tries to hold the heavy cue awkwardly while Grandpa tells him what he should do, what he shouldn't do, in a very -un-child-like-way-to-talk-to-a-child.  I felt so bad for the kid.  He kept getting scolded for trying to play pool.  It was all very unfortunate.

The kid was SO happy when he first walked in, ready to hit some balls, just have fun trying to make contact.  Instead, he gets ridiculed and scolded for not holding the cue right or not making a ball in the pocket because the cueball took off funny.

He's a child!  Ever heard of "handle with kid gloves," Mister Grandpa? 

My b/f would look at me a lot while Grandpa got onto the boy and he could not believe what was happening either.  He would ask me, "Did you hear that?" 

"Yea," I'd reply disturbed.

Then another older gentleman came in and he put his cue together and started to spar with Grandpa while the boy watched them (bored).

The care taker in me wanted to go get him and bring him to our table so I could just let him hit balls.  I would show him how to shoot and hold a cue by ONLY suggesting to the boy, "look how my b/f is standing and holding his cue.  Try to imitate him if you can."  I would encourage his shots and tell him how great he was doing, even if he wasn't.

But, I didn't have the opportunity to ask him to come over because we had to leave.  :(

Two weeks later, I'm watching my boyfriend gamble a couple of sets in the wee hours of the morning at the sister pool room, Rusty's Billiards in Arlington, Texas.

After the first set, a friend comes in and has a young girl with him.  After a while of listening to them two tables over, it was obvious it was his daughter.  She could be either 14 or 20 (you know how it's tough to tell nowadays, lol).

He would shoot normal 9ball shots, but she was allowed to get cue-ball-in-hand after she missed.  I overheard him say time and time again. "It's okay.  Shoot it again."

Or, "You're doing great."

Or, "Good shot." 

"Good try."

"Nice one."

After about an hour or more, I finally couldn't stand it anymore.  I went over and expressed how much I appreciated the support he showed her.  I tried to convey the story of Grandpa and the little boy, and expressed to her that I hope she appreciated how encouraging her Dad was to her.  I also told him how impressed I was that he was was so supportive.

They both thanked me and genuinely seemed to be grateful I came over.

I had to, I was impressed!