Barking at The Diamond Dogs

This summer, our family started rewatching Ted Lasso. There is something about the humanity of this show. The entire series thus far (I hope there will be a fourth season) is about a team and what it takes to be a part of a team. They're not perfect, and there's plenty of division, but there is innate goodness in all the characters. Take four minutes and forty-two seconds and watch one of my favorite scenes, courtesy of YouTube. Then, try to remember to be curious, not judgmental. 

One of the elements I find so endearing is the group "The Diamond Dogs." The Diamond Dogs were formed when Ted Lasso, a fish out of water in London, coaching a soccer team with absolutely no soccer experience, realized he needed help. While he brought an assistant coach with him, so many things are getting lost in translation (literally), and he's navigating a long-distance relationship with his wife and son. The collective values exhibited by the Diamond Dogs (a group of men) are collaboration, support, and growth, shown by empathy, compassion, and honesty with each other. 

I was struck by this group rewatching it because, honestly, it's rare to see men being this candid and vulnerable with each other. Part of the research in my dissertation was around the ethic of care that gets scrutinized when men are involved. I was a first-grade teacher, and a stigma went with it. It's the same stigma male nurses receive (as made fun of in the movie Meet the Parents). When there is an ethic of care, while it's seemingly OK for men to demonstrate that in their own homes, there is, at the very least, an ambivalence about it when in professional realms. 

That's why The Diamond Dogs resonated with me, but it's also what makes the concept so wonderful. The men offer their own expertise and advice to each other. They can face challenges together, creating a sense of camaraderie and togetherness. They discuss various strategies for winning and allow each other into their personal lives with vulnerability and candor. 

We know that mental health is just as important as physical health. If someone shared during a meeting that they had a headache, we would all offer whatever over-the-counter medication we had to help that individual feel better. We struggle to talk about the more complicated parts of mental health: feeling alone, overwhelmed, depressed. That's not so easy to talk about at parties. 

We know how important it is in EGPS that we dedicated our professional development time to mental health for our adults this year. We dedicated resources for all the adults in our district, including those in Central Office, to have the opportunity to learn and grow themselves to be able to better serve our students. We do this because we know our students are still struggling with the ripple effects of the pandemic. We have to be our best selves professionally to serve our students. There's a reason why, when flying, we're told to put on our oxygen masks first before helping others...

A life lesson from Ted Lasso.