Good Afternoon!
I had to share this as I'm still in shock over how this day has progressed. The things I heard parents say and do makes me wonder about the future of our children.
My boys had their game today. They lost by ten points, mainly due to the poor calls by the umpire. Clearly this fella needs some glasses. Kids on our team that should have scored, didn't, and kids that should not have been out were(on both teams). It got ugly. Finally at one point during the game, when it was apparently the last bad call for one mom (I'll call her Sandy, as I don't know her name and wouldn't use it here anyway) she stood up and said "YOU SUCK!", I was in shock she said that turned around and looked at her with a grin like "OMG you did not just say that!" Needless to say this didn't go over well with the head of the little league who was out there, radio in hand, and he walked over to our bleachers and said "Ma'am you need to stop". Then she's mocking him after he left, real mature.
What happened to good sportsmanship? Granted those calls that were made weren't the best, and it did affect their score considerably, but life itself isn't always fair; good workers get passed over for promotions, kids get accepted to good colleges while others don't. It's part of life. Deal with it. Be grateful your child is healthy and can run and hit the ball. There are parents out there who would love for their child to catch a ball and not be in a wheel chair, or be blind and not able to enjoy a baseball game.
I don't understand some parents. I really don't. I am by far nowhere even close to being a perfect parent, but I'm certainly not going to make myself into a raving lunatic because of a bad call at a LITTLE LEAGUE GAME. What sort of example is she setting for her child? And why should the other children and parents have to listen to her poor choice of words and crappy attitude too?
*shakes head in disgust* tsk tsk
I also have a problem with these parents who force their kids into sports and other extra-curricular activities just to live vicariously through their children and put them out there like show ponies while announcing to the world...
"Look at my son he's the best baseball player",
or "look at my daughter she's a straight A student, varsity captain of her volleyball team and speaks five fluent languages",
or " Show Aunt Laura your winning dance move that won you the state dance competition,"
All these kids want to do is be kids. Sure extra-curricular activities are awesome, I'm all for it. And yes, every parent has a right to be proud of a child's hard work and great accomplishments having a "mommy brag moment" that's fine, but when you've heard for the tenth time any one of the above sentences at every family dinner, or playdate, or from a co-worker and the parent is more obsessed about it than the kid is, then it's gone too far and you've reached the point of activity overkill in my book. And with some parents I think they do it more for their self-esteem than for their children's self-esteem.
Another child on our team was injured at a game about a week ago. Let me give you the background on this kid and his father. His father loves to yell at him at EVERY game. I have yet to find a game where his father hasn't screamed at the kid for stupid reasons. It's not a constructive type of encouragement, but rather a tone of "You know how to do this don't be so stupid" tone, anger and frustration just spewing out of his pie hole.
Apparently during last weeks game, this little boy was hit with a ball, or swung too hard(I wasn't there I heard this second hand) and the coach let him sit out the next inning. There is his stupid father, (yes, I said stupid because when you hear the rest of the story you'll agree too I'm sure) yelling at him in the dugout to get back out there. The coach put him back in(probably to shut the father up) and the poor kid was wincing the whole time he tried to swing. At one point he put his left hand down and was only swinging with his right hand. At which point, his father is yelling to him "*Eric*(not his real name btw), use both hands!"( I can hear that guys voice in my head right now, no joke, annoying as hell too) The kid is in dyer pain and no one seemed to care.
WHERE ARE THE ADULTS AT THIS GAME???!!!!! THE REAL ADULTS! The adults that are responsible and speak up for this poor kid. Not the coach(including my kids father), not the umpire, not the other team's coach or any parent in the stand stood up for this kid and said to pull him out of the damn game. What the hell is wrong with people? He was in pain, obvious pain from what I heard and not one damn adult in that baseball park stood up and said "you need to take him out."
A park full of cowards and one bully.
So two games ago I noticed that little Eric wasn't at the game. He's our star catcher. I asked my kids dad where he was and he told me, "He had a broken collar-bone".
REALLY????
Come on now people. Where is the common sense here. I get that most dad's have this "buck up and take it like a man" kind of philosophy with their boys and don't coddle them much, but come on now, don't you think a child wincing in pain and shoving him back out on the field is a tad bit sadistic?? Call me crazy, but that's what sucks; Having testosterone driven, overly competitive parents barking at their kids like slave drivers, all in the name of "pushing them to their limits" on the sports field(or any other activity) for the sheer satisfaction of having a "winner" in the family.
So to all you competitive driven parents out there, who feel the need to treat your children like they are potential professional baseball, basketball, or football players, to those mothers who think their daughters are future cheerleaders for the Dallas Cowboys or are future dancers on Broadway, let me tell you something.
#1. It isn't about how many trophies or awards your kids get throughout their lifetime that makes them special.
#2. It isn't about toughing it out and running and pitching and dancing til you're practically dead that makes them special.
It's about letting THEM decide when they've had enough or want to go further. If it's their dream, SPECTACULAR I'm all for it just use some common sense, but if it's YOUR dream it's time for you to wake up and realize that you need to enjoy what little childhood they have left and start being a parent while finding your own dream to make YOU feel special. In the end you and your children are winners and spend some real quality time together which is something worth bragging about.
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