Take me out to the ball game

I have another bone to pick… I know, I know, this is turning into a blog of rants and raves… but I like posing questions on parenting and such. If we can all learn from each other… what’s the harm… If you have an opposing view… please let me know… I enjoy friendly debate, and welcome it. This particular bone is on team sports. My kids play all kinds of sports. To play these sports, my kids MUST maintain a 3.0 or better on their report cards, or we don’t sign them up.

Yeah, Yeah, harsh, I know… but I am the Mama, and it’s my way in THIS house, or it’s the highway.

Also, there are repercussions if they slack off mid season, or are disrespectful, or don’t do their homework, etc…BUT!!!! AND THIS IS A BIG BUT!!! (not mine, the sentences) I refuse to punish said child from playing the sports if it is a team sport…why?

Because it affects the entire team, not just the child being punished. There are many other ways I can punish the child during a season… such as, not taking him to the team party, asking the Coach to give him extra laps or fetching balls,

or making him clean up after the team leaves the dugout…!

There are so many ways of getting our points across if we just use our imaginations! I applaud the parents that require their children do, finish, turn in homework, get good grades, help around the house etc… YAHOOO! What I want parents to understand is that using a team sport as punishment is not a prudent way to punish, because it hurts more than just the child. It hurts the coaches, players, other parents, and potentially the other teams ability to play, because if we don’t have enough players to play a game, they lose out too! It is really difficult being a coach/team parent. Right Angela? It requires a lot of time, patience, and there is a sense of responsibility with those positions. Everyone looks to the team mom for information, pictures, phone calls, schedules, etc…

It’s a thankless job. Same goes for the coaches, they get yelled at, talked to, talked about, reamed, or otherwise, because Johnny Angel isn’t getting enough play time, or “why does that kid get to play, and he never comes to practice” or “I would do it this way… he doesn’t know what he is doing out there”. I get it. I have been one of those parents on more than one occasion myself. You wanna know what I was told??? If you have such an opinion... coach... otherwise, take a seat. Touche'. Here’s my point. It makes it infinitely more difficult when parents don’t bring their children to practice or games because Johnny Angel didn’t do his chores. A lot of shifting and moving has to take place. Another one of my pet peeves is when parents allow their kids to play or do extreme sports while playing a team sport. Give me a break! Did Johnny Angel really HAVE to hang glide during baseball/soccer/tennis season? Was it a moral necessity for Johnny Angel to go toe to toe with a Sumo Wrestler NOW??? Couldn’t he wait 3 measly months? I don’t even let my kids swim on game day, so they aren’t all tired out. I wonder what goes through their heads… “Gee, look how adorable Johnny Angel is in that parachute… What fun! Coach said at the beginning of the season not to do this stuff… pretty please… but look how much fun he is having!!! Nothing is going to… oh, wow, that looked like a nasty spill… get up Angel… get up… oh… he’s crying… what are they screaming for??? AMBULANCE??? He’s fine… he’ll get up and walk in no time… STRETCHER???” So they call some random coach and tell the biggest lie imaginable… “Johnny Angel was walking down the street and POOF! A piece of a 747 fell right on his adorable little head… he will be out for the rest of the season, sorry Coach” Oy Vay! My unsolicited advice to parents thinking of putting their children in organized team sports…

Make sure you are willing to do the time, put in the effort into getting your kids to practice, and putting extreme sports on the back burner for a couple of months. Forethought… just a little forethought is all it takes. I’m done… feel free to comment. Ciao!