So yesterday would have been our last day of soccer, except that we ditched it a couple of weeks ago. Gus was just not into it, and we were tired of dragging a complaining kid all the way down to the bottom of the park so he could be the first one to volunteer not<\/i> to go in (and roll around on the astroturf). The games were much sportier this season–we moved up an age bracket–and, while I think he does like running around and kicking the ball, he’s definitely not a star player, and doesn’t really get the whole dribbling-passing-shooting thing.<\/p>\n
Me? I’m torn on it. Despite all of my whining I do like having something to do on a weekend morning. Gus has more AM energy than PM (until bedtime, of course), and the day always seems to go better when we get out of the house. Though we can certainly find a class or something else to do on the weekends. (I’m going to call about ice skating tomorrow!)<\/p>\n
I am pretty far down the sporty ladder (on the klutzy rungs), but I did play soccer as a kid and it really seemed like something Gus could like, too. But I don’t know, most of the time I think the whole team sports thing is bungus. Of course it’s important to be able to work in a group. But I also think that kids get a lot of group work in many different contexts at school, from playing at recess to more organized things like gym class and building projects, etc. So I don’t really think that you HAVE to play sports to learn to be part of a team.<\/p>\n
More than anything what keeps me worrying about sports\/no sports is that horrible word: normal. Isn’t it normal<\/i> for boys to like sports? Will other kids think he’s weird if he doesn’t?<\/p>\n
(I fully realize that these are my own childhood demons rearing their ugly heads — I always felt like a nerdy weirdo, even when I had a group of good friends. Until college, of course, because you can’t feel like a nerd when you’re surrounded by other nerds!)<\/p>\n
But it’s stupid for me to worry, for so many reasons:
\n1. No one is weird in NYC, because everyone is. That’s one of the reasons why we live here!<\/p>\n
2. I have never seen such a strong sense of self-confidence in a small person than I see in Gus. Seriously, when he was about 3 he once shouted a kid twice his age (and 3x his size) right off the slide, so he could climb up it. I don’t know where he got it — certainly not from me.<\/p>\n
So I shouldn’t worry. And I try not to. If only parenting weren’t so completely judgementified these days, it would be so much easier.<\/p>\n