I keep hearing it, and I know it’s true, but it’s so scary to think about. “You think you’re busy with a 1- and 3-year-old,” friends say, “just wait until they’re 8 and 10!”
I watch families with older kids juggle all of the activities and wonder how they keep their collective sanity – and when these kids ever get their homework done!
I’m already stressing out about the impending collision between sporting seasons. I grew up in a baseball family, and my husband’s family is full of soccer fanatics. Is it possible to do both? Those seasons totally overlap, right?
Oh, the decisions! But oh yeah, it is supposed to be the child’s choice, right?
Can you really let your child decide what sport to play (if any) and keep your own desires out of it? Don’t we all tend to steer them a little bit in the direction we’d like them to go, even if we don’t realize we’re doing it?
As of now, the boys seem equally happy with any ol’ ball in their little hands.
They have totally embraced the new Richmond sporting teams, and at any given time can be heard shouting, “Go, Raiders!” and “I love Nutzy! When are we going to the Diamond?” We’re planning a trip to the Kickers game this month, where we’ll hopefully get Mike Burke to autograph this issue, and we’re signing up the 3-year-old for Tuckahoe Tikes at The Tuckahoe Training Center. I figure the best we can do at this point is to expose them to all of the available options and let them decide what (if anything) they’d like to pursue.
They are fortunate to have a cousin who is a very talented ice skater, a good friend who is a gymnast, and a karate kid in their inner circle, so they’ve already seen a myriad of sporting events. Every sport has its own unique and wonderful lessons – some more important than the ones they’ll learn in the classroom (in my humble opinion). And this is coming from someone who did not play any sports growing up. Right up there with not spending a college summer waiting tables on the Outer Banks, not participating in a team sport will be one of my big regrets in life. (But there’s still time, thanks to the oodles of adult rec leagues the Richmond area has to offer).
My only hope is that they don’t choose football…why, you ask? Oh the thought of sitting on those cold bleachers every freezing Friday night, watching my babies get pummeled…again, too scary to think about! So I won’t.
Enjoy the summer and Happy Father’s Day to all you RFM Dads!
