NBA star Kevin Durant just received his first most valuable player (MVP) award. However, it was his acceptance speech that won the hearts of everyone whose heard it and even earned him a rousing standing ovation. In his own endearing, humble way, he not only gave credit to his teammates, but wanted the world to know that it is his mom who is “the real MVP.” Without her, Durant feels he wouldn’t be the success he is today.
With deep emotion, the Oklahoma City Thunder player told his mom he knew how hard it was for her to raise two boys as a young single mother. He recalled one of his fondest memories “is when we moved into our first apartment–no bed, no furniture–and we just all sat in the living room and just hugged each other, because we thought we made it.”
His mother, who was in the audience, was visibly moved as he continued: “And when something good happens to you, I don’t know about you guys, but I tend to look back to what brought me here. And you’d wake me up in the middle of the night in the summer times, making me run up a hill, making me do pushups, screaming at me from the sideline of my games at eight or nine years old. We weren’t supposed to be here. You made us believe. You kept us off the street. Put clothes on our backs, food on the table. And when you didn’t eat, you made sure we ate. You went to sleep hungry. You sacrificed for us. You’re the real MVP.”
On a recent episode of the “Today Show,” Durant’s mom, Wanda Pratt, passed along some valuable parenting lessons based on her own experience: “My advice is to never give up, to always put your children first, to always commit yourself to their dreams, their aspirations and their goals even when it gets hard. When you have those lonely nights when you’re crying to yourself, just remember that it’s for them, and they will get that. They will receive that. I’ve realized that’s what children really want. They want to know that their parents are 100 percent behind them, and they’ll give you everything that you expect.”
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