I manage a country homestead and the lives of my 4 babies ages 10,8,5 and 3. I LOVE TO RUN and NEED to keep healthy and fit for my SANITY!! Seriously....All problems are solved when I am running.

Making MY health a priority allows me to be the mother and wife that I need to be for them.

Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Why I'm not a Soccer MOM

I've come to the conclusion that I don't like soccer. Not soccer the sport. I'm not even opposed my children loving soccer. What I am opposed to is what 'soccer' represents.

In the league closest to our house it represents everything I see wrong with today's parents and it makes me want to gouge out my own eyes. Yes my feelings are that strong.

Let's see. If I was in charge these are the changes I would make :

If the sign up age is a minimum of 4 year old your child must be 4. Not 3. Not 3.5.Not 3 and 3/4. No they are not ready and no they are not a super star. No you are not increasing your chancing of them becoming a super star. You are just frustrating the coaches and the 6 year old who is forced to play with your child.

Ages 4-6 have short attention spans. They have also been up since 6am and been in school/day care all day. You are right. Playing 50mins of soccer is too much and they will not learn the game right off the bat. That is why you need to COACH them. No I don't want to bring my child to a practice at 530 BEFORE the hour game. Do fun drills for 20 minutes teaching the rules of the game, then a 20 minute game. That's it. That's all.

Playing from 7:15-8:15pm is too late for a 7-9year old. Kids are tired and this is the reason.

Every child does NOT need a trophy and a medal. Give them a ribbon if you really want to. A four year old does not need to start collecting more things for me to dust and eventually throw out. The child that spends the entire time on the field hitting the other players or picking flowers does not deserve a medal. I am not kidding when I say that my daughter ended the season last year and was handed 2 trophies and a medal. Even she was wondering why. (Yes this is the second year I have put myself through this....SHE likes it)

If you really want soccer to be the affordable sport than reuse the barely worn jerseys you keep passing out to them! They will never wear them again anyway.

Passing out sugar Popsicles after every game does not make you the cool mom. You are perpetuating the obesity problem by not teaching the kids that oranges taste yummy, and you are making me look bad ;)

I'm sure I could come up with more reasons why I hate soccer but I believe in being part of the solution instead of complaining about it. No I am not going to EVER become the coach to prove my point. I would rather just stay far far away from the field... Unfortunately my girls seem to want to play and I already paid the fee. Next year I will do my best to find other things for them to fall in love with ;)

4 comments:

sam said...

Amen Sister! Very well said! I actually chose to be selfish this year and I chose running over soccer!

Cheryl said...

You hit the nail on the head!

Anita said...

ha ha Alyson... it is soo true! Come on people they are just children! They aren't training to be apart of a the Canadian Soccer team! I am thankful that our games are from 9a-9:45a then we still have the rest of the day to have fun! Interesting that you posted this on your blog because I was just reading an article on 'why kids don't like sports'... and the answer: "Its not fun"... too competitive!

alltheprettythings said...

Yes, there is something about sports at this age that does make one want to gauge out their eyes with forks!!!

We don't do sports in the summer-lacrosse officially ends in June with I think maybe 2-3 games in the summer-that's it-and well it may be selfish, but I am NOT A GOOD MOM in the heat, so we just don't do it!!!

Good for you for hanging out at that field...

and yes.... I so so so agree with the medal thing!! Come of it, it is craziness. I cannot even find most of them and the ones I do have, Seamus takes to school and gives to friends when they play "pretend world cup"..

I get your rant, oh I get it...