This is so timely. We started our kids in baseball a few weeks ago since it seemed pretty COVID-safe. Our two kids have totally different views towards sports. One is eye of the tiger, super hustler, very competitive and loves to play. He's the younger. The older is dreamer, more sensitive, not into competition and (death knell for sports): young for his grade. Baseball games for the older one right now is pretty tedious since they started the kids pitching and there are so few balls actually going over the plate so the games are not very exciting at all. However I was just talking with a friend of mine about how she had her daughter do volleyball *because* it was a challenge and she wanted her daughter to learn to stick with something hard. I was fretting about my older kid's baseball experience worrying that he would be damaged by the potential for toxic masculinity in sports or feeling down about not being the best (although nobody is the best.) It has helped to reframe it in my mind that he needs to work on something for awhile. It helps too that my husband is not a big sporto, and neither are his two uncles (married to each other), which I hope helps enforce the fact that there are many ways to be a boy/man, and also we live in an urban, progressive area so it's not like it's sports-or-nothing.
Excellent article! Thank you for writing it! Like you wrote, Balance is the key! My son was heavily involved in drama. Although still going on during the lockdowns, things have changed and we're not sure if it will happen again. Now my son is in track and field, but it's a combination of him wanting to do it AND not doing drama. Overcommitting to events is something I want to avoid as well!
This is so timely. We started our kids in baseball a few weeks ago since it seemed pretty COVID-safe. Our two kids have totally different views towards sports. One is eye of the tiger, super hustler, very competitive and loves to play. He's the younger. The older is dreamer, more sensitive, not into competition and (death knell for sports): young for his grade. Baseball games for the older one right now is pretty tedious since they started the kids pitching and there are so few balls actually going over the plate so the games are not very exciting at all. However I was just talking with a friend of mine about how she had her daughter do volleyball *because* it was a challenge and she wanted her daughter to learn to stick with something hard. I was fretting about my older kid's baseball experience worrying that he would be damaged by the potential for toxic masculinity in sports or feeling down about not being the best (although nobody is the best.) It has helped to reframe it in my mind that he needs to work on something for awhile. It helps too that my husband is not a big sporto, and neither are his two uncles (married to each other), which I hope helps enforce the fact that there are many ways to be a boy/man, and also we live in an urban, progressive area so it's not like it's sports-or-nothing.
Excellent article! Thank you for writing it! Like you wrote, Balance is the key! My son was heavily involved in drama. Although still going on during the lockdowns, things have changed and we're not sure if it will happen again. Now my son is in track and field, but it's a combination of him wanting to do it AND not doing drama. Overcommitting to events is something I want to avoid as well!