I have seen the arrogance of some jocks as well, and I agree with your post. My only disagreement is that you could get your kids into a sport that is less mainstream. Depending on where you live, maybe track and field or cross country. I played CYO basketball. (Catholic Youth Organization) It’s important to be in some type of athletics, for the body and mind. It helps instill discipline, hard work ethic, and of course physical health. You sound like a good parent, and that is a huge part of how children turn out.
When they were little they played soccer. Once you get beyond about 5th grade any of the rec leagues dominate a person’s whole life - which I’ve seen a couple of my nieces and nephews do. My husband is a pastor so we can’t do that. We don’t have the money or the time on the weekends to do that.
I think to get the kids in cross-country I’d have to run with them, at least at first; I don’t think they’d want to do it on their own. I’ll have to think about that. I agree with you on the importance of athletics. I’ve been playing tennis with the kids in the mornings before it gets too hot, but it’s not a training situation where you give it your all. That’s what I’d like my kids to experience because that really does stretch a person to grow.
My daughter who just graduated high school was in high school track but it was kind of a joke. Maybe it was because I was a runner and jumper as well as a thrower, but I busted my butt in high school. I ran with the sprinters because I was in the 4x100 relay and then later the 4x400, pumped weights with the throwers, and was always the last person to leave the field. I would dearly have loved to coach my daughter on the throwing techniques, but her coach had his way of doing things and I dared not interfere. I am a competitor; stubborn as all get-out and hard-working as a horse. My daughter just wanted me to not make waves.
My youngest is going into 7th grade and I would like to coach her in basketball. I was going to do that a couple years ago in the rec league but my dad had a stroke and we almost lost him right when the season was starting so that didn’t work out. Last year we didn’t even get a flier about when the league was starting, and I’ve also been really busy the past several years doing research on Obama’s eligibility.
That’s the thing that really hurts about the choices I’ve had to face: I have the choice of being with my kids in the present, or trying to preserve their chance at a future. All because the people who are being paid to safeguard their future are instead raiding my kids’ future for their own gain.
Remember the part in “Princess Bride” when Inigo Montoya has Count Rugen cornered and tells Rugen to offer him money. Rugen offers him anything he wants, and Inigo’s response is “I want my father back, you son-of-a-b!tch” and then stabs him.
What Obama has stolen from me can never be given back. I can never get back the time I could have been playing basketball with my kids or any of the other stuff. A mom isn’t supposed to have to choose between saving her kids’ future or seeing their present.