Oh, the woes of suburbia. I tried to go to my NYSC at Twin Rinks yesterday, and the parking lot was completely full of minivans, SUVs, and family sedans. After a mom almost sideswiped me in her minivan, I decided the parking trauma was not worth it. I was getting hungry, so I didn't think the workout would be that great anyway.
Every time I go to the Twin Rinks NYSC on Hope St., I say a little prayer that none of my future offspring will play ice hockey. I especially said that prayer when I went to the gym at 8am one weekend... and there were parents and kids leaving a hockey game that had already finished. What time could that game have started? SIX THIRTY ON A SUNDAY?!?
I hope my child wants to ride horses. I know that can get expensive, but I like horses a lot, and there are probably less matches I have to show my face at. 'Cause youth sports look really stressful, and God forbid they're good enough to be on a travel team. Then your weekends are shot.
Hmmm... although, riding horses can be dangerous. Maybe some casual rec league basketball. My 5 year old nephew was awfully cute in his rec league debut last month, and basketball does not appear to be year round like soccer.
Or, maybe the kid will be really into spelling, and we can just sit at home and quiz each other. That sounds nice. And the competitions are much less frequent, so we'll have time to relax on the weekends and not be driving all over the tri-state area for matches.
Sunday, January 4, 2009
Curses Upon Youth Ice Hockey
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7 comments:
For years i paid little attenton to such goings on, until i met parents that actually moved from Stamford to Darien so that their child could be in some Hockey league in Darien and could get a chance at the majors (which he apparently was good enough for). It is the parents, not the children who push these things. I loved sports when I was a child, but stayed with mostly the sand lot variety (which can be very dangerous, just not as frequent), but was not pushed by my parents at all. I think I grew up okay (maybe? Just a sports playing geek). I know there is no room in these towns for sand lot anything (the wiffle ball incident) and although I like your spelling bee thing, physical activity is what is all about, why not go with a karate?
Kids do need their sports. One of the parts of my childhood that made me the person I am is competitive swimming. As a kid my weekends were shot (no more sat. am cartoons for me) but I also made a lot of friends, got to unfurl my competitive side, and in the end I also healthier. Sports are no fun for the parents, no matter which sport; you also lose weekends, it is expensive, and in my parent's case, smelly (you get used to the smell of chlorine after a while). The upside of this is that you get to spend time with your kid, can make friends with other parents, and keep your kids out of trouble. :)
One other thing, you won't be able to pick your kid's sport. They'll try a lot of things (i'm sure my dad wanted me to play basketball, but I was horrible at it) before they latch onto the one sport they really enjoy (or are at least good enough at to tolerate). A lot of this process is letting your kid find out who they are as a person, and nothing is more important than that.
My girls both ride; the 11 yr old will be on the barn show team next year. As you know, we don't own or lease a horse, and have no plans to. It's a time and cost commitment, which we're willing to do as long as they keep up their grades, generally behave, etc.
I have a friend at the barn whose kids both ride AND play ice hockey. Yikes!
Thank God I had girls. Soccer is already out, we tried that. No football, soccer, hockey or any of that for me. I am hoping I can make it by with dance and theater.
Wise hopes. Football (the kids safety) and hockey (my sanity) are the only no-no sports in our house.
Kids don't need to be involved in team sports. There are plenty of other activities to keep them fit and interested. Music is great, and most of our school bands and orchestras would welcome more members. Marching band, once they get to middle/high school is a fantastic activity. Keep pushing the music!
I had the same experience there last week...I do pilates there a couple of times per week but not usually at night; Ive been making up some classes so am fitting whatever I can.
It was a nightmare and I finally found a spot after a sort of friendly altercation with a woman who it turned out had 2 crippled kids in her van....oops!...she needed a bigger spot to fit her van in and get the wheelchairs out.
Too bad that my battery had been dying that day and I ended up nose in in a tiny spot, so of course when I came out it was dead and it was impossible to ask for a jump from anyone....so I waited for my roadside assistance and shopped at CVS....oh well.
Tomorrow I have a class over there at 7PM and Im gonna go as early as possible....though have to take the kid to Norwalk for martial arts after school.
As far as the sports thing goes: My kid is now 14 and we tried just about everything when he was little. He has a joint disorder so its hard for him to do alot of running, and he wasn't ever all that coordinated until he went to eagle hill and had special OT to help him with his spatial organization.
But, being a single mom, I figured that I should join him on every t-ball team and create a basketball class for him at the JCC....whatever there was, I did it....lots of swimming too!
Turns out he wasn't all that keen about team sports (or swimming...but he learned how) and preferred origami and a slew of other strange pass times...becoming quite expert at the origami.
He always loved karate and we went to Dynamic from the time he was a really little kid till a couple of years ago. Its a great school for little kids, but once you're a black belt there is not too far to go, and very little personal attention, even for those who have been there for years and years. So we moved to Calasanz in Norwalk, where my son is now a martial arts weapons specialist. Calasanz even asked him to be a spokesmodel for the weapons program. Here is a little bit of rough unchoreographed weapons work by said spokesmodel (who is now like, a man!) http://www.ripcoco.com/2008/11/yeah-this-is-my-will.html
I hope for you all that your kids do not pick a huge, time consuming sport...the hocky thing is scary dangerous and its just crazy time consuming!...my friend who is a also mgr/instructor at the NY Sports club and the best pilates trainer around, had 2 boys in baseball for all of these years, and on leagues in stamford. She spent years sitting at every game for 2 teams! Ugh!
Now one is swimming all the time at westhill, and the other is into some huge music program that is very far away and meets every afternoon!
The best thing to do as your kids get older is ask some of us oldsters about the different offerings because we have experience with just about every program out there.
I am so happy that my Will is someone very pale who hates the sun as much as I do, and who is not into these big team things.
His friends range from the same group of nursery school boys, (some of whom were over today!) and kids from each and every school we've been to (alot...and don't underestimate the importance of where you go to nursery and kindergarten!...you will know those people forever unless you leave town!)
I have a kid who needs alot of down time, and I need alot myself, so...thank god!
Hockey and football? just say no!
horse riding?....well, I did a full course of that in MT on a student exchange, and I've found that the riding around here isn't as fun because its only english...not to mention the dangers there...and the expense!
Be sure to ask around about the stables too...
ultimately you have little choice if the kid really wants to do it.
We even did Lacrosse for a year, and that was really scary...
this parenthood thing has been more than a little tiring! I'm sorta glad to be on this end of it.
But it was fun...I guess I have to recover some more before I can look back on it and know what I was doing all those years and how I did it all. The teen years also give me pause...so Ill have to revisit it all at a later date when we're not sneering and growling at each other as I pretend ot be in control of things;-)
I control video games and TV at least!
Don't worry Kristen...it will be FUN!!
Just get a nursing pillow and a sound bear or machine that plays white noise and womb sounds or heartbeat...maybe a CD of vacuum cleaner and washing machine, and it shouldn't be that bad!
heh...
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