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gasbag
281 Posts |
 Posted - 05/27/2010 : 10:14:41
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Millions of kids play baseball every year. I'm guessing most do not have pro aspirations, yet we parents spend incredible amounts of time and money for our kids to pursue their athletic endeavors. I'm just wondering this am, if we parents spend as much time and money and with the same attitude ( we carry to the ballfields ) for non-sporting activities ? I know I spend lots of time and money on education but I certainly don't get nearly as amped up when junior is getting ready to take a test at school as I do when he's going to play a ball game !
Why is it we parents can get fired up for sports endeavors but not as fired up when junior 's pursuit is fire man, police man, business man, astro-physicist, nurse, lawyer, doctor etc ? Would we have a blog for fire and safety and participate so zealously and with such emotion ?
Kinda interesting to ponder methinks....what do you think ? |
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Rich S
14 Posts |
Posted - 05/27/2010 : 11:14:48
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I think it's probably a bit easier for the average parent (mother or father) to get actively involved in baseball versus moving toward a professional career like being a doctor or lawyer, unless the parent themselves are in that profession. Growing up in life many more of us played baseball than ended up practicing medicine, so we identify more easily with it.
In addition, baseball is very social...it's nice to get together with other parents with common interests and socialize while we cheer on our kids. I think the other side of this is that the kids themselves are pretty excited to be playing baseball too, where as studying for a test just isn't as exciting for the average kid. |
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bballman
1432 Posts |
Posted - 05/27/2010 : 11:26:51
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Good question gas. Hate to be simplistic, but maybe it just has to do with the fact that most of us LOVE sports - baseball in particular here - and most of us are less than enthusiastic about school work. Not talking about whether our kids do good in school, talking about what we like to do. I know, even though I have a Master's Degree, I never really got psyched about going to school. It was a chore to me. Something I had to do in order to have a better life. I loved playing sports. It was fun. I still love playing and watching sports, whether it is my own son, a friends son, a MLB game or just a good travel game with teams I know nothing about. Can't see myself getting psyched or even enjoying watching someone sit in class and listen to a lecture or cheering someone on doing homework. I am happy when my son gets good grades, but it's not exactly a spectator sport.
So, I just think it has something to do with what we as parents love to do, independent of our kids being involved in the sport. |
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DecaturDad
619 Posts |
Posted - 05/27/2010 : 12:07:14
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| Because studying is not a spectator sport. |
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coachtony
236 Posts |
Posted - 05/27/2010 : 12:27:49
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I cant speak for everyone but for me the reason is simple. I want to spend as much time as I can doing things that are a common interest with my son. I am a divorced father who has a great relationship with both his ex-wife and his son and I think part of that reason is that I spend hours and hours each week on baseball and other sports, with my son. He and I both enjoy the time we spend together and my ex-wife appreciates that I am making the commitment to spending time with him and shaping him into being a fine young man. Most divorced fathers see their kids for 2 days every other week where as I see my son at 2 or 3 practices per week, 2 league games per week during the league season, plus two days of weekend tournaments. I call him every night and we discuss baseball strategies for the team, or what happened to the Braves last night, or who did the Falcons draft. During the Fall, we add a Family Fantasy Football League to the talks to give us even more to talk about. I will take ever opportunity that I have to inject myself into his life.
Will he be a professional athlete? I doubt it. Do I care? Not one bit. As long as he is having fun and learning and able to spend time with his old man even as he gets older and I get less and less "cool"....then I think I am doing right by my son.
Like I always say, this is just one man's thoughts....I cant speak for everyone else.
--T
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in_the_know
985 Posts |
Posted - 05/27/2010 : 14:12:58
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Gas,
My thought is this, 99.9% of us "settle" for whatever end game career we find our ways into. For many of us, it is a passion that, when faced with the realities of our limitations, we worked hard to achieve. For many others, it is a necessary evil required to pay the bills.
When we were kids, we had none of those limitations and the world was our oyster. We loved the games we played and probably all dreamed that we would find a way to enjoy the spoils and make our riches and fame & fortune on the ball fields of our choice. The dreams of playing professional sports (or even to a significantly lesser degree, college, high school, elite/select, or rec all-stars) has a very real and short shelf life. While most of us still "wish" we could be pro athletes, all of us know that it won't happen.
Those other pursuits you mention (fireman, doctor, etc) have a much longer window of opportunity associated. I believe that you only get one chance to be a kid and have the time to play and have these dreams. I'm trying to find the right balance to ensure that my kids make the most of their opportunity to be kids, while still getting what they need to prepare for "life after kid". We all eventually get to pay our mortgage, taxes, medical bills, etc., so why not put the gusto into letting your kid have this time. The rest will come to him, whether he likes it or not... |
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baldy87
118 Posts |
Posted - 05/27/2010 : 15:03:11
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| I agree with several of the posts already - spending time with the kid doing something we both love. To me, the answer is that I love to see my son compete in something relatively pure. There's very little dispute that when "Little Johnny" gets a hit and gets to first base - he won a competition between himself and the pitcher. I love to watch him compete and have success. And I love to watch him compete and be unsuccessful - just so we can talk about what happened, analyze it, discover how to deal and learn from it, and help him realize that there's going to be PLENTY of times in life where he will be unsuccessful. There's very little competition in the classroom, particularly in this day and age. You can't have a competition for fear of having a "winner" and a "loser" anymore. And sports still has that, and in reality, lots of people love and learn from true competition and meritocracy. |
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DecaturDad
619 Posts |
Posted - 05/27/2010 : 15:51:49
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Also, we use sports as a means to help reach the accademic goals our son will need later in life. Bad grades. No sports. When my son was 7 and playing rec ball, the rule was that if the homework was not finished, he did it in the dug oit. It was always finished. Now that school is out, he has baseball on Tuesday and Thursday and a tutor on Monday and Wednesday. No tutor. No baseball. I use the reasoning with him that college athelites use tutors, so he might as well get used to it. It allows him to get good grades and also enjoy the sports he loves.
Also, at 10 it is hard to know what he will want to be when he grows up. When he is older, and has a clearer vision of that "career", I hope I am able to help him reach that dream.
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PumknHead
81 Posts |
Posted - 05/27/2010 : 17:30:34
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| All of you make sense and seem to be great parents but I think there is another side of youth sports. We also have parents that push their children into sports with the hope of a scholarship or possibly pro ball. Those parents could care less if their child is having fun or not. I've seen these parents push their kids to the limit at an early age and I think it's very sad that some parents can't step back and see what they're doing to their children. |
Edited by - PumknHead on 05/27/2010 18:06:07 |
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Destined to be a Pro ?
