March 1, 2024
Spring sports are right around the corner. Like, immediately right around the corner. It seems like everyone is posting pictures of their kiddos playing soccer, baseball, t-ball, lacrosse, flag football, gymnastics, dance, cheer – you name it, they are doing it. I’m not going to lie. It’s stressful. It’s stressful for so many reasons.
First – I always feel like I’m racing to “catch up” – making sure my kids are in the right sports, at the right places, doing all the right things to propel them further along their given “track”. Next, I still don’t know how people do this, but how do you play more than one sport per season? We are attempting to do both soccer and baseball this spring for Luke (not to mention Lily’s dance classes), but y’all – I don’t know how all this works. There are only 2 of us who can drive in the house. LOL. Finally, I’m not sure what happened since I was a kid (you know, way back in the ‘80s), but it felt like you had time to try out different sports to see which you liked before you fully committed to them, but now there’s NO TIME because everyone else is really good already and if you lose a season to try something new, you are already behind.
Phew. Those are my current anxieties.
Parenting is not for the faint of heart. Everything we do can lead us back to the age-old questions…am I doing the right things for my children? It’s really exhausting.
Seriously – I have an 8-year old and a 10-year old. What sports and activities they do now should not really be a worry or impact their ability to, you know, go to college and have a job later in life. But what if Luke wants to play high school ball? Is he playing enough soccer now? He’s so interested in all the sports, but there’s no time to try lacrosse if he wants to also try flag football or baseball and continue playing soccer. Lily has danced for several years now, but really wants to do gymnastics now. She’s on one path, now wants another. And of course she should do what makes her happy. But in the back of my mind, I worry she will realize she really likes dance and then has missed some time.
I KNOW in my momma heart of it all, that none of this really matters too much. I just want them to be happy and doing the things that make them happy, with the people that make them happy. As parents, we are so focused on making sure our kids will be okay and are set up for success that sometimes we can’t see the forest through the trees. It’s the reason why we may struggle at times to focus on the NOW, rather than the what-ifs of the future. It doesn’t matter if we are talking about sports, or academics, or their social life, or scouts, or any other activity…we will always just worry. That’s just part of the parenting job description.
I’m grateful that God is in my parenting corner. I’m grateful that he shows grace and understanding and urges me to focus on the present, instead of always thinking ahead to the future.
“So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own. Today’s trouble is enough for today.”
Matthew 6:34
So for now – let’s make a pact together to go out and spectate some activities, if that’s your thing. Let’s pray for some warmer weather and for God to center us on the present and gift of being with our children, as they do something that makes them happy without consequence to the future. I’ll definitely be back to re-read this blog to help me remember. 🙂
Until next time,
Jess
PS: While I was writing this blog, I got the email with Luke’s soccer schedule…it was so appropriate.