Sports Mom Syndrome

I'm a sports mom. A football mom to be exact. Both of my boys play football every spring and fall and yes, I do make it to most of their games. I say most because fairly often their games will be at the same time and Mark and I have to split up. Sometimes I make the whole family miss and we go out of town or off to do something important to ME. I do cheer for them, support them and want them to do well.

I say that all to point out that yes, I do understand the profound importance of sports in kids' lives. I really, really do. I don't personally enjoy any sports, but I've seen my children grow and learn from their sports involvement. (Before going football-only they've tried out several other sports). I've seen their sports have a positive impact on their behavior, their schoolwork, their concentration levels and much, much more.

However, I think as a Mom (or Dad, but I'm just writing as a Mom here) it's profoundly important, especially in the area of sports to separate yourself from your child's accomplishments. Kids' sports aren't about Mom and Dad. Kids' sports are and should be about the kid. Partly about health, wellness and ensuring an active lifestyle. Partly about learning to accept defeat. And about learning to win graciously. Definitely about learning to follow the rules and work as a team.

Kids' sports should NOT be about making Mom happy. Yes, I love to see my kids win. And I am sad when they lose. But I'm happy or sad because THEY are happy or sad. Not because their winning or losing a football game defines who I am.

I say all this because today I overheard the following conversation. At the football playoffs this morning, a woman I'll call Ann (and if you read this post, I love you dear, so I hope you're paying attention), was telling the other parents that today is her and her husband's anniversary and "what better gift could I get than B coming home with that huge trophy for my living room." Seriously? Because, call me a bad mom, but for my anniversary I'm hoping more for something along the lines of a a fancy dinner, some flowers or maybe even some jewelry or some new electronic gadget I'm wanting. If I'm lucky I'll get a weekend away with Mark and no kids. It has never ever occurred to me that my kid winning a football game could be considered a "gift" for me.

"Ann's" hubby is the coach and since they lost, I'm wondering how things went at their house this evening. Mark is thinking not well, given the way she was screaming at him after the game about missing some bad calls and whatnot.

As for me, I said "Sorry you lost, Superman. You played great." Then went on about my day. And I'm OK with that. As I told a friend recently, I know I'm a bad "football mom," but I think I'm a good mom. Sometimes I wonder if they two are compatible.

The one in which she returns to blogger...

Yes, you knew I'd be back. I don't know how, but you knew it.

Most of my friends still have my site bookmarked here, despite my moving over to wordpress nearly a year ago. And, alas, they were right. I'm back. And I'm here. I just never really became a wordpress person. I moved over there for the ability to password protect posts. I think I'm over that now. People who annoy me will find a way whether my blog has password protection or not.

I'd refer you over to wordpress for an update on me, but 1. I live in a fantasy world where all my friends have been following me over there already and 2. I never really could get into the system over there so I quit. There's nothing wrong with wordpress, really. It just doesn't do alot of things I like to do. And the screen that's up when I'm writing entries bugs me so I often just didn't.

Alas, alot has happened over the past 10 months! Superman is in 1st grade now, Sunshine in 4th. However, Superman doesn't like me calling him that anymore, at least not to his face. And sunshine is pretty cranky lately.

I've taken on some new volunteer "jobs" and dropped some old ones. I have a couple of regular freelance clients, but still not enough to keep me from looking for parttime work.

Several of my friends have started new blogs, so I'm going to get linked to them and see if we can do a better job of keeping up with one another. I'm doing a fairly good job of that through facebook, which has allowed me to "find" friends I didn't even remember losing. I've also caught up with some old friends locally as of late. More on that later.

So, she's back. For now. Until something better comes along.