saturday was henry's first day of soccer. he was so excited about it. until the practice started. they started with stretching, he didn't want to. i told him i'd do it with him. nope. okay, no big deal. then they started playing games (with parental involvement). nope. nothing. no interest what. so. ever.
and he was the only one. it was so sad to watch. i didn't want to push him but i wanted him to just try. it was a difficult situation to be in for us especially because we didn't expect that reaction from him. matt and i took turns going on the field with him and trying to initiate play. it worked a couple of times. but then he got upset and started crying. maybe it was too much. it was a little chaotic and he wanted to play just not the way they were. he wanted to go to the big goals and kick the ball when they were lined up to kick in the little ones. that kind of thing. and we kept getting these pitiful looks from other parents. i didn't mind. i wasn't going to force him out there. i was just sad that he wasn't having a good time.
hopefully this week will be better. his friend emery is playing too, but she was signed up for the session before us. so we're going to go to the early session instead. maybe if he's got a buddy playing he'll follow her lead.
It's interesting, Jessica, last weekend we stopped in at an indoor soccer place by Jeff's work. My mom and I watched the pee-wees playing - Benen's age- and it was jsut a big clusterf$%* around the ball, each competing for their own turn, no sense of "teams" despite wearing team jerseys. And there was one little guy dominating the ball, it was like watching a bunch of hamsters roll around a big piece of..hamster food. We asked Benen if he wanted to play and he said "Uh-uh". He likes to kick the ball, etc, but like you said, on his own terms. Good on you for not pushing. Whenever we are in that place at gymnastics I remind myself that it is his activity, not mine; there are whole sessions where he follows the class around the gym and doesn't participate at all. Nice to hear I am not the only mama who doesn't 1. have an always gung-ho boy and 2. shame, scold, and generally berate my child into participating, which I see too often. But of course you knew I would agree with you;-)...
ReplyDeleteI have a few of those moments. It's fleeting, but it stings. I might need you to remind me about the fleeting part when Kindergarten rolls around.
ReplyDeleteamy,
ReplyDeletecluster is the exact word my friend stephanie used to describe it as we were pulling up to the fields. she was there for the earlier session with her daughter.
so we stayed and watched and then we kicked the ball around after everyone left.
erika,
you can remind me too when c heads off to school. i'll probably be crying : )