BUT…But…but it’s raining!
I love youth sports, and in today’s world kids need organized teams and leagues. In the olden days, as kids, we did not need adults. We all met at the school grounds with a bat and a ball, scratched out the bases, chose up sides, and played. Those days are gone, we need organized kids sports, and we need parents involved in sports.
We don’t need OVER involvement. I am guessing that if you go to u-tube and type in “Little League fathers acting like ass holes” there will be an assortment of videos to choose from. I am going to save Dad bashing for another day, today it is the Mom’s turn.
Moms:
Your boys do not care if their uniform is clean or dirty. It is OK to wash it, nobody likes a smelly uniform, but do not obsess over it. If Tommy’s mom judges you by how clean your boy’s uniform is you don’t really need to be friends with Tommy’s mom. Do not use bleach. Leave grass stains in. From your sons perspective the kids with clean uniforms are the kids who do not get in to the game. Grass stains are a badge. Your son wants to wear them with pride.
Do not yell shit at your sons during the game. He will be embarrassed enough by his Dad, don’t pile on by yelling,“Make a home run Bobby!”
Sports are played in different conditions. If the weather makes conditions unsafe then play should be suspended. However, do not expect to have all action stop at the first rain drop.
“How can they keep playing; It’s raining!”
“Shouldn’t they stop; It’s getting windy!”
“Isn’t it too cold to play?”
“It’s so hot, shouldn’t they stop and hydrate?”
"BUT...But...but it's raining!"
"BUT...But...but it's raining!"
Just gut it out and let the kids play. It’s fun playing in the rain and getting muddy; unless it is a hurricane, the wind is fine; your son doesn’t even feel the cold; if it’s hot, let them sweat it’s good for them and for Heaven sake never use the word HYDRATE on a ball field.
Your son does not need a juice box and a Twinkie after the game. Relax, he is fine.
Do not tell your son that winning isn’t everything. Winning IS everything to a boy at least for up to 10 minutes after losing.
Sports teach a boy to work together with other kids, to get dirty, to suffer difficulties, to work towards a goal, that winning is better than losing and losing is part of life, and if you get them to the game on time with the proper equipment, with no pressure or expectations, sports can be fun.
Even in the rain.
Even in the rain.
ahh playing in the rains is a experience that gives experience which is out of the world back in village in my childhood i was just mad about playing in rains and during our recent previous visit i insisted my hubby to walk on hills near my home while it was raining heavily can't forget this till my last breath.
ReplyDeletethough the environment of outer world here is not much healthy when they are in their teens so i let them go in grounds when they are atleast fifteen .before that we just play in the front yard regularly as i consider physical activity so important for healthy mind
I used to love playing outside in the rain in summertime. I never did organised sports, even at school, I avoided that lesson. But I used to love being at the beach in the rain, we'd go under water and look up to watch the rain hitting the surface, then we'd head into the mangroves and get all muddy, before diving back into the ocean off the jetty.
ReplyDeleteI do agree with you that too many mums and dads are over-involved instead of just supporting the team.
I loved the rain, and remember clearly getting into trouble for having grass stains on a newish cream coloured mackintosh. Mind you, I was old enough to know better - old enough to go snogging in wet grass!
ReplyDeleteI, too, agree that parents are over-involved these days.
I had a boarder once, a college boy on a baseball scholarship. He washed his uniform after every game. White pants, dark jersey. By the end of the season it came out looking like it hadn't been washed at all.
ReplyDeleteI'm not this mom. Thank goodness I never was. I was a cop for 25 years. I'd be more like a dad than a mom.
ReplyDeleteHave a fabulous day Joe. ☺
It's probably more about the Mums not wanting to get wet or cold - I'm sure most of the kids would be just as happy if parents stayed at home. (of course then you're that bad Mum who doesn't care ...)
ReplyDeleteSometimes it is really challenging not to be an embarrassing mom -- I speak from experience! I just can't bring myself to tell you my worst moment ...
ReplyDeleteWe are a non sports loving family....never had to worry about playing in the rain. Now camping in the rain....that's another story altogether.
ReplyDeleteMy children didn't seem interested in sports, although they did play outside in the rain. I am glad, I would be a terrible soccer mom or whatever - I would have been banned.
ReplyDeleteHi Cranky Man,
ReplyDeleteTotally agree. I've done cross country running in horrific blizzards, played rugby in torrential rain where I was forced to breath mud (have you ever tried that? It's most unpleasant) and played hockey on a frozen pitch that was more dangerous than the ball and hockey sticks.
I'm tempted to say "When I were a lad ..." but I won't.
:o)
Cheers
PM
I had no interest in playing baseball as a child but my older brother told me if I didn't sign up for little league people would thing I was a communist. At the time I had no idea what a communist was.
ReplyDeleteI always found soccer to be the worst sport to watch, as they played in any sort of weather. I spent a lot of time in my car.
ReplyDeleteThis is why i liked t-ball, with me as the "coach." They were age 3-5 and they learned how to hold the bat, to not be afraid of giving the ball a solid whack, and what direction to run the bases. We all had fun, the parents were watching the big kids play so no yelling except encouragement from me and the other players.
ReplyDeleteLoved your grass stain rule. Makes perfect sense.
ReplyDeleteI grew up in North Dakota and can remember going ice skating and snowman building when it was 20 below outside. Kids are impermeable
ReplyDeleteThe maddest I ever saw my mother get was when a chubby pitcher three a breaking ball that didn't break and it hit me square in the back. I thought she was going to flail the crap out of the entire opposing team including the coach and the batboys :)
ReplyDeleteMy sons needed a juice box and Twinkie DURING the game. They would have beat me running to the car if a sprinkle fell from the sky. They really weren't that into it. At the time, I was a bit disappointed, having always been on sports teams myself. I admit that I forced each to play a year of baseball in the non-competitive league (everybody bats, coach pitches) when they were aged single digits. When they said they didn't like it, they didn't have to go back the next season. At least they gave it a shot, and weren't quitters.
ReplyDeleteLuckily, that whole brainy thing worked out for both of them.
It is much much more fun to play a sport in the rain than to watch it in the rain. Man, I have done that.
ReplyDeleteOne of my fond memories is playing a freshman football game in a downpour. The field we were on had horrible drainage, so the middle of the field became an instant mud bog (just add water!). By the end of the first quarter, the only way you could tell the teams apart was by the color of the helmets. When we took our helmets off at halftime, every part of our face that wasn't covered by the helmet was a uniform muddy brown. And when the game ended, the poor guys on both teams who hadn't gotten into the game ran out onto the field and belly-flopped into the mud, rolling around so as not to be the only guys with clean uniforms. I bet we were carrying around an extra 25-30 pounds in mud. . .
ReplyDeleteOf course, the football was horrible; nobody had any kind of footing at all, and there must have been a dozen fumbles 'cuz the ball was so wet and mud-slicked.
Man, that was a great time. . .
When it's raining during a game, my worry is for me and my hair, not my kid who is playing. He will be fine, but my hair will be a mess. Although in southern CA we hardly ever have to worry about rain. Yeah, I have a lot of good hair days over here.
ReplyDelete