"Mom, I don't want to go play."
We were sitting at the side of the soccer field and I was trying to coax him into getting on the field to warm up and get started on drills. He wasn't very enthusiastic about it.
This is the first week he's been difficult about it and of course he picks the week that I was Snack Mom so we had to stay the whole time. Eventually, I got him out on the field and he started working on his drills. When those were done we moved on to the game. During water breaks he would ask me "How much longer, Mom?"
The kid did not want to be there. Frankly, I understood because I didn't want to be there either.
Soccer was an experiment. He asked to play so we signed him up. I figured U-6 was a good way to get introduced since it was really low pressure on the kids - at least as far as the coaches are concerned. The parents are another story. However, it's fairly obvious to me that it's not sticking the way that Tae-Kwon Do is.
When he goes to TKD, he's excited, he loves it, he always asks me when the next class is. He can barely stand still while I'm tying his dobak and belt. Watching him in class is a joy because he tries so hard and gives it his all. The grin that splits that kid's face when he's sparring is really amazing.
The same cannot be said for soccer. He runs around at the back of the pack, rarely putting in the effort required to keep up. It's not because he's tired - soccer is at 10 am on Saturday. When he does get the ball, it's only if he's at the front not surrounded by other kids. Once they catch up to him, he backs off the ball and lets anyone who wants it, have it. It's like he just doesn't care enough about it to translate the aggressiveness he uses during sparring into the aggressiveness required on the soccer field.
And that's OK with me.
The whole point here was to try it out. We did that and he didn't really like it. It's clear that he's much more interested in Tae-Kwon Do and much more willing to put up with whatever he has to put up with in order to go. Given this, I doubt we'll even be going to the last two weeks of soccer. You may think that makes him (and by extension, Scot and I) a quitter but I don't see it that way. He's unhappy going. We're unhappy going. What's the point of making the whole family unhappy by continuing? We're teaching him the importance of living up to your commitments with Tae-Kwon Do. We've told him we signed a contract for a year and that he has to complete that year. We've told him that we will have to pay the money whether or not he goes and that he agreed to do it for a whole year before he can decide to quit, if that's what he wants. To me, this is the real place to teach this because the time and money commitments are so much greater. Soccer? Not so much. Maybe it's the laid back, non-formalized nature of it that makes me feel that way. I'm not sure. I just know that it doesn't seem worth all the hassle if he's not that into it.
When soccer rolls around next week, I'll ask him what he wants to do. If he wants to go, I'll take him. If he doesn't, we'll stay home.
Showing posts with label soccer. Show all posts
Showing posts with label soccer. Show all posts
Sunday, October 17, 2010
Thursday, September 30, 2010
Life, Lately
I've been having trouble trying to come up with blog posts lately because we're so busy but life is also very routine. This is good news in a lot of ways as it means Scot's health issues (which I haven't talked about on here very much) are beginning to resolve themselves and my stress level is beginning to reduce itself. Thank God for small favors. But, on the other hand, it makes for rather boring blog posts, no?
Instead, I'm just going to give you a "here's how it's going in the Two Kids and a Beagle household."
1. Liam continues to attend kindergarten with gusto. Loves school, loves his teacher, loves riding the bus, is making friends - what more could I ask for? We don't have parent-teacher conferences until November but I'm hoping for a good report - both academically and behaviorally.
Liam is also continuing apace at Tae Kwon-Do. Moving up into a color belt class was like moving from kindergarten to first grade. It's not at all the same except that he's still supposed to behave himself and listen. However, if he doesn't, he gets to do push ups. But he's holding his own pretty well and he's already learning his next pattern. The biggest change for him is that his class is now at 6:00 pm instead of 7:00 pm so he's busy from 5:00 (dinner time) until bedtime on TKD nights and that kind of ticked him off for awhile. He's adjusting to it now, though, and pretty soon it will seem like it's always been like this.
2. Jamie is now 19 months old and 28 lbs 12 oz. He is, for lack of a better term, a tank. I was honestly shocked when he weighed in because I expected him to be at least 30 lbs. He certainly feels like he is - the kid is dense! He, too, is enjoying his two days a week at daycare and practically throws his shoes at me if we're not moving out the door fast enough.
He's also expanding his language at lightning speed. The other night, while I was at TKD with Liam, he looked at Scot and said "UPSTAIRS! BATH!" over and over until Scot figured it out and said "you want to go upstairs and take your bath?" Jamie snatched up his stuffed animals and made a beeline for the stairs as fast as his chubby little legs would carry him. He certainly gets his point across, that's for darn sure.
3. The beagle? Continues to pee in my house. There are no words.
4. Scot and I will be celebrating our 9th wedding anniversary next week. We've been together for 11 years now. It's amazing how slowly 11 years seems to go when you're a child and how quickly they fly past when you're an adult. And yet, here we are, with two kids, a dog, a mortgage, and being subversive in the suburbs. ;) When I was 17 years old, the thing I wanted most in life was to have children (and yes, I knew that college came first, thankyouverymuch, and then marriage). I have my share of bad days being a stay at home Mom, but the truth is that I wanted this very much and I wouldn't chose differently if given a chance. I love you, Scot!
5. I remain corpulent. There are no words for this, also.
6. I become less enamored of my soccer mom title the longer soccer goes on. The kids are fine; the parents are not. They yell at their children from the sidelines. They reprimand them for not being aggressive enough. They give me dirty looks when I clap for the *other* team when they score (because, dude? It's six and under and there's barely any rules. The kids are trying and it's a good job reaching the damn net at all). I clap when our team scores, too, but I don't feel the need to denigrate a gaggle of 5 and 6 year olds just because they scored against us.
The longer this goes on the more I hope that Liam loses his love of the game. I'd rather be a dojang Mom any day of the week. It's just so . . . suburban. Or, more accurately, suburban nightmare. I'm all for kids learning that not everyone is awesome and not everyone gets a trophy and how to be a good sport but this is U-6 soccer - most of these kids have never played the game before and it just isn't important at this age to be so damn competitive.
7. Otherwise, life is life. I clean the house, I run children to school, I pick kids up off the bus. There's play dates and grocery shopping and bills. One of these days there will be time for me - I begin to see a glimmer of those days but it's a faint glow on the distant horizon. We'll get there. Eventually.
Instead, I'm just going to give you a "here's how it's going in the Two Kids and a Beagle household."
1. Liam continues to attend kindergarten with gusto. Loves school, loves his teacher, loves riding the bus, is making friends - what more could I ask for? We don't have parent-teacher conferences until November but I'm hoping for a good report - both academically and behaviorally.
Liam is also continuing apace at Tae Kwon-Do. Moving up into a color belt class was like moving from kindergarten to first grade. It's not at all the same except that he's still supposed to behave himself and listen. However, if he doesn't, he gets to do push ups. But he's holding his own pretty well and he's already learning his next pattern. The biggest change for him is that his class is now at 6:00 pm instead of 7:00 pm so he's busy from 5:00 (dinner time) until bedtime on TKD nights and that kind of ticked him off for awhile. He's adjusting to it now, though, and pretty soon it will seem like it's always been like this.
2. Jamie is now 19 months old and 28 lbs 12 oz. He is, for lack of a better term, a tank. I was honestly shocked when he weighed in because I expected him to be at least 30 lbs. He certainly feels like he is - the kid is dense! He, too, is enjoying his two days a week at daycare and practically throws his shoes at me if we're not moving out the door fast enough.
He's also expanding his language at lightning speed. The other night, while I was at TKD with Liam, he looked at Scot and said "UPSTAIRS! BATH!" over and over until Scot figured it out and said "you want to go upstairs and take your bath?" Jamie snatched up his stuffed animals and made a beeline for the stairs as fast as his chubby little legs would carry him. He certainly gets his point across, that's for darn sure.
3. The beagle? Continues to pee in my house. There are no words.
4. Scot and I will be celebrating our 9th wedding anniversary next week. We've been together for 11 years now. It's amazing how slowly 11 years seems to go when you're a child and how quickly they fly past when you're an adult. And yet, here we are, with two kids, a dog, a mortgage, and being subversive in the suburbs. ;) When I was 17 years old, the thing I wanted most in life was to have children (and yes, I knew that college came first, thankyouverymuch, and then marriage). I have my share of bad days being a stay at home Mom, but the truth is that I wanted this very much and I wouldn't chose differently if given a chance. I love you, Scot!
5. I remain corpulent. There are no words for this, also.
6. I become less enamored of my soccer mom title the longer soccer goes on. The kids are fine; the parents are not. They yell at their children from the sidelines. They reprimand them for not being aggressive enough. They give me dirty looks when I clap for the *other* team when they score (because, dude? It's six and under and there's barely any rules. The kids are trying and it's a good job reaching the damn net at all). I clap when our team scores, too, but I don't feel the need to denigrate a gaggle of 5 and 6 year olds just because they scored against us.
The longer this goes on the more I hope that Liam loses his love of the game. I'd rather be a dojang Mom any day of the week. It's just so . . . suburban. Or, more accurately, suburban nightmare. I'm all for kids learning that not everyone is awesome and not everyone gets a trophy and how to be a good sport but this is U-6 soccer - most of these kids have never played the game before and it just isn't important at this age to be so damn competitive.
7. Otherwise, life is life. I clean the house, I run children to school, I pick kids up off the bus. There's play dates and grocery shopping and bills. One of these days there will be time for me - I begin to see a glimmer of those days but it's a faint glow on the distant horizon. We'll get there. Eventually.
Friday, September 24, 2010
Three Weeks Late, But Who's Counting?
I am officially a soccer Mom.
I'm not sure how I feel about this as I am most definitely NOT your typical surburban Mom. I'm also not the type to scream at my kid from the sidelines when he messes up and try to tell him what to do. I cheer him on when he's doing well and clap for all the hard work the teams do. That seems the best way to me.
Liam, on the other hand, is loving it. The rowdy parents and the over competitive kids go right over his head. He's too worried about trying to kick the ball. So, I say, good for him.
He's playing in a 6 and under league run through our township. It's mixed boys and girls and it's really pretty informal. They meet on Saturday mornings and have a practice for half an hour and then scrimmage with another team for half an hour. They don't really keep score during the games and half the time the kids are trying to score in the wrong goal. But it's all in good fun and again, Liam seems to like it.
So, here are some pictures from our first week at soccer. That was only three weeks ago but I'm not lazy or anything.
I'm not sure how I feel about this as I am most definitely NOT your typical surburban Mom. I'm also not the type to scream at my kid from the sidelines when he messes up and try to tell him what to do. I cheer him on when he's doing well and clap for all the hard work the teams do. That seems the best way to me.
Liam, on the other hand, is loving it. The rowdy parents and the over competitive kids go right over his head. He's too worried about trying to kick the ball. So, I say, good for him.
He's playing in a 6 and under league run through our township. It's mixed boys and girls and it's really pretty informal. They meet on Saturday mornings and have a practice for half an hour and then scrimmage with another team for half an hour. They don't really keep score during the games and half the time the kids are trying to score in the wrong goal. But it's all in good fun and again, Liam seems to like it.
So, here are some pictures from our first week at soccer. That was only three weeks ago but I'm not lazy or anything.
Doing drills
You talkin' to me?
Chasing the ball at the back of the pack
Playing defense
He's in scoring position....GOOOOOOOAAAALLLL!
Clapping for big brother's goal
I'm not sure how long his love of soccer will last and I don't know what will happen when he gets old enough to have to choose between soccer and Tae Kwon-Do (because of scheduling issues). For now, it's fun for him and his coach is great with the kids. There's none of that "YOU LET THE TEAM DOWN!" business. I know that sort of thing will come and I don't want to go there if at all possible. So, I guess we'll just enjoy it while it lasts and see what happens later.
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