3. Look out the airplane window and daydream. Enough with the laptop solitaire or expense report. Earth from above is humbling and inspiring. At 10, the kids were still innocent enough to be entertained by natural wonders we take for granted. Flying over scores of lakes in South Florida, the kids shouted out their interpretations of the naturally carved shapes. "Look, a rhinoceros!" "That one looks like a rabbit!"

4. Go bowling. It's the Hawaiian shirt of sports: It's impossible to be crabby with it. The kids insisted we go bowling when we had off-days. As the manager, I liked the bonding aspect of a safe team activity held in the air-conditioning. They, however, immediately grasped the cool factor of wearing Day-Glo shoes and eating fried foods while trying to knock things down indoors -- parental permission not necessary. And there is the magic of the occasional strike, when even a kid achieves the same moment of pure perfection that a professional seeks.

5. Childhood passes quickly enough; don't rush it. At the World Series we noticed how common it was for teams to allow 10-year-old kids to throw curveballs frequently and to pitch six innings in a game, nearing or exceeding 100 pitches. Crazy.

One of my favorite parts of each game day was the 10 minutes before the game would start. My coaches and I would stay quiet and leave the kids to themselves in the dugout. We'd be entertained by the kids just being kids, unconstrained by adults. They might eat hot dogs or Twizzlers and talk about anything in the world except baseball, such as teachers, the hotel pool, the taste of fried alligator, what they dreamed about the previous night or the joys of bowling.

6. Cherish every moment. Being 10 is the heart of the wonder years. The world is still packed with a sense of newness in which even what we as adults think of as setbacks and obstacles are just more opportunities for adventure and discovery. A three-hour delayed flight becomes an invitation to play touch football in the corridor of the St. Louis airport. Airport and hotel gift shops are as exotic and inviting as Neiman Marcus. The kids are still young enough to be so trusting of the world, always anticipating its lightness and goodness.

You volunteer for a job to teach some kids a little about baseball and the kids wind up teaching you about life. Only eight teams in the country played their way through regionals to get to the 10-year-old World Series, so it was a summer we'll never forget. But the lessons and the bonds that come from sharing the experience are just as lasting.

One of the last moments of the season happens to be one of my favorites. We were in the New Orleans airport, having just cleared security and started a long walk through a concourse to our departure gate to begin the journey home. My left fielder (a sweet kid who once told me, "I like spending money; it's an expensive hobby") passed by a kiosk selling popcorn.

"Oh, popcorn!" he said excitedly as he walked on. "Let's come back!"

"We can't," another outfielder said.

"Why not?'' he asked.

"Because," said one of my pitchers, who had missed the part about the popcorn, "we're only 10 for one year."

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