Cowgirl...Soccer Mom

Can you believe it? Sweet little H-Bomb is playing soccer. In Kindergarten. He really wanted to play, and it only lasts 6 weeks, so here we are. New shoes and shin guards and sweat pants. Practice two days a week, and one “game” each week. Unfortunately one of the practice days is Saturday, so we miss a lot of those. We’ve got quite a few Saturdays planned out already, and soccer didn’t fit in.

The games, on Tuesdays, are hilarious. A bunch of Kindergartners and First Graders, running around the field. Or not. Chasing after the ball. Or a flying plastic bag. Or a dog. Whatever. Usually most of the kids are standing up at least. Sometimes a couple will sit or lie down on the field. We’re definitely still in the “don’t use your hands!” stage. It’s fun. Number One and I have made an effort to learn all the kids’ names so we can cheer them all on, even though we still cheer the loudest for H-Bomb, who excitedly tells us at the end of the game how many times he kicked the ball. (Last game, it was Three Times!)

H-Bomb’s team has two good players on it, one of whom is a First Grader, and the other of whom should be a First Grader because he is six years old. But he was in H-Bomb’s preschool, and here he is in Kindergarten, and now on H-Bomb’s soccer team. (There’s at least one other six-year-old Kindergartner on the team, unfortunately not so good).

Here in our small town, I’ve run into this curiosity: Parents hold their kids back in school. Not for any academic reason, or any learning issues or any other logical reason, but in order for them to be better at sports. This seems not only, how shall I say this…stupid to me, but also quite unfair. Especially to the younger kids, the appropriately-aged kids who should be allowed to play and learn and fumble with other kids their age, instead of automatically having to compete with kids who are bigger, faster and more experienced.

I realize this is life, but it just seems like this small town has got their priorities messed up. Kids will always have to deal with other kids being stronger, faster, better at one thing or another. But why stack the deck against them from the start?

I am ecstatic that during our parent/teacher conference yesterday, H-Bomb’s teacher commented on his excellent reading comprehension and love of reading. So what if he can’t yet “dribble” a soccer ball from one end of the field to the other. He’s no David Beckham, and he probably never will be. But he will continue to love reading and learning and be smart, probably smarter than any of the other kids whose parents want them to excel at sports. I guess I’ll take it. Perhaps he won’t have much competition from kids who are “smarter” because they’ll be too involved in sports all the time to care about how smart they could have been.