As a mom, I want to encourage my kids toward their strengths. In addition to that, I want them to do things that they love to do. That being said, I was kind of happy when I had girls, because the chance of sports related extracurricular activities was substantially less than if I had boys. Somehow, the sports loving gene skipped me in a family of sports fanatics...I know, it is unspeakable, but please don't disown me! Anyway, when my youngest wanted to branch out of the dance arena and into soccer, I agreed. It was more important to explore different activities to find something she enjoyed and maybe see where some of her natural talents were the strongest.
The beginning level of soccer requires players to stay in their box, this teaches them the 7 different positions on the soccer field. If the ball is in their box, they play, if not they wait until it comes to them.After the fall season of soccer, it was evident that my little one enjoyed herself, I mean it was the perfect opportunity to make new friends. That is what the boxes were really for, right? To match you up with someone new to chat with during the game? It is kind of like speed dating/friending for kindergarten children. Five minutes to learn something about the other person before being rotated to the next box. And sometimes, if you met at the corner of the boxes you could have up to 8 kids in a group chatting at one time. Secretly, I suspect that this is the part that my kiddo enjoys the most. Oh wait, what is that black and white thing that just rolled past?
This season, we have had about 6 games cancelled due to rain/monsoon weather. They don't generally reschedule, that is the league's rule, and while I don't necessarily care about the money we have lost, I do care that my kiddo is being cheated out of her extracurricular activity. Then last week we had both of our games! Unheard of this season. Wednesday night, it was unseasonably hot. We had kids dropping like flies. One was "sick", others would watch the ball roll by and hope that it went into someone else's box before they actually had to start running, the goalies were sitting down. It was torture. And my little pea kept yelling, "How much longer mama?" They all wanted it to be over, and so did the parents. Then Saturday, it was FREEZING and raining. Apparently, the game isn't called unless there is thunder or lightning. Parents kept asking one another, "Wait, was that thunder?" or "Did I just see lightning?" I mean for crying out loud these are 5 and 6 year olds, we aren't hardcore athletes at this point, especially not our team. But we stuck it out, every painful minute of the 60 minutes.
As I watch my girl socializing and leaping after the ball,( we don't run, we leap), I am inclined to think that maybe, just maybe, soccer might not be her "strength". And I have to be perfectly frank, I am in favor of climate controlled extracurriculars. I have told her that if she wants to play soccer again she can, however, this summer I have suggested that she try out a couple of new and different dancing classes, just to see if she liked any of that better. I have my mommy fingers crossed that she falls in love with tap or hip hop, but if not, I will be on the sidelines again next year. That is what we moms do. We cheer on our kids, even if we hate every second of the lousy weather, or the crazy schedules that ensue when we have more than one kid in something extracurricular, or because we just don't like sports. But loving your kids pretty much trumps all those other thoughts, especially when you get a wide toothed grin and a big wave from the soccer field.
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