I often wonder, why in the world did God make me the mother of all boys? I have lots of reasons to doubt my suitability to this task, but this time of year brings up a big one: I hate sports. I don't even watch the olympics (well, ok, I watch the ice skaters, but really mostly just to see the outfits). I am so not competitive in *anything.* I do like to do my best, and I love to improve, but I hate measuring myself against anyone else. I don't even like to watch other people compete, because I don't like the whole atmosphere surrounding competition.
So here I am, with a house full of children who should probably be immersed in sports year-round, and I am a bad mother because I haven't enrolled them in anything. They are lucky to get to a gym class once a week, and swim lessons once a year. We have a lot of yard-toy psuedo-sports-equipment out in the shed out back. Bats and balls and a basketball net, and another shed full of bikes. But nothing team-oriented, and nothing competitive. I am sure there are some out there who would consider my loathing of sports to border on abusive to my sons. I am depriving them of a staple of boyhood. But yuck. It's not only the sport itself, it's the way whichever sport is current seems to take over the household of a participating team member. I cringe at the thought of required practices, and then games, and then heaven forbid, play-offs/all stars. To have to hang around at these events in a crowd of fanatical parents who soak this stuff up. Ugh ugh ugh. And the COST! Ack, don't get me started.
So with the advent of spring, said topic not only takes over households across the country, it takes over blogs. You will read post after post about baseball season, and sports camps, and fund raisers. But not here. I have nothing to post, because we will not be doing it. I feel a guilty pleasure from knowing that I, at least, will not be suffering from the myriad complaints that go along with dragging younger siblings to ball fields day after day, and having to work magic with scheduling and driving.
If you have children about to enter college and wondering what a good field of study would be, what career choice they should make, may I recommend psychology? My poor deprived abused sons will need some top-notch therapists when they finally escape my prison, er house.
Tuesday, April 04, 2006
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5 comments:
Good for you! Enjoy the slower pace, there's nothing wrong with that.
I've been reading you for while. So long, actually, that I can't even remember how I came across your diary, lol.
We just had abig discussion about the activity thing on a MOPS board I belong to and I have to say, I'm in 100% agreement with you. There are times when I feel like my kids should be in something, but they aren't. My 5YO boy did soccer in the fall, because he really wanted to, it was a short season, and it was quite cheap. He loved every minute of it, counted the minutes until his games on Saturdays and came back with a wonderful experience. I see SO MANY kids who do NOT want to go to their activities. They are just BURNED OUT. It's very sad! Sorry to ramble, I just thought I'd come out and introduce myself and comment on your entry!
DH and I are really not into sports either. For some reason our boys think they're great. Only 1 DS is old enough to play organized sports, and we started him in soccer last fall. It's a split season, so it is off in winter and continues again in spring. My DD has done a little bit of dance through park and rec and is signed up for a 3 day cheerleading camp in summer. Other than that, our kids don't really do organized sports. Sometimes I wish we could let them do more, but money is also an issue. When I see how much time some of the sports take up, I'm amazed and glad we don't let them do more. Glad to hear there are others out there who don't have their kids participating in every sport under the sun.
Hey, don't feel guilty! We love sports but there's no art or music going on here, and not much reading of the classics either, lol! We've all got our own bent. If one of them really wanted to do sports you'd know.
Sounds absolutely fine not to have them in sports. My husband and I did not play sports growing up and do not feel deprived at all. My oldest has done karate and boy scouts but doesn't do anything right now because he has very demanding homework in middle school. My youngest is 7 and I've asked if he wants to play soccer or baseball but he has no interest so we do not have him in anything. My office mate has her 6 year old son play sports all year long, soccer, basketball, baseball and he's going to be on a swim team this summer. He is also in cubscouts. She is the commissioner of baseball in her area and her husband is a coach. The sad thing is, the kid has no choice but to play all of these sports, the kid doesn't get much free time. She thinks I need to put my youngest son on a team sport but I'm not caving into pressures like that. We are very happy the way we are. Enjoy your time with your boys and don't worry about the sports :)
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