Kids and Sports

Don't take this the wrong way. I want my kids to be active. I want them to participate in sports. Heck I'm hoping that a healthy interest in sports will help me stave off the tween years for my daughter. But as I look around as my kids start to get involved in sports. I wonder if everything there is as good as it should be.

I want my kids to have fun while they play soccer, or do gymnastics, or try a kids triathlon, or anything else that their hearts desire. But, I worry that exposing them to the pressure to "win", even when scores are not kept, might start everything off on the wrong foot. At every event we've been to with our kids, there are parents who are truly supportive; encouraging, sympathetic and overjoyed when things go right. And when the 5 year olds are playing soccer, things going right might just be that they are headed in the correct direction on the field. But there always seem to be those parents that are a bit over the top. Cheering and urging on from the sidelines perhaps a bit more than is needed when the athlete is 4, getting a little too upset when kids stop to notice that the clouds above look like a pony, rather than that a goal was just scored by the opposing team. I want to be the parent who can gently suggest that we look at the clouds later and focus on helping our friends play the game now. But I wonder how easy it is to become the "other" parent. How easy it is to get caught up in the game and wanting to be best, wanting to win?

I know that sports are fabulous for kids. I just want to be sure that in this family we make sure that kids enjoy the sport for the sake of sport and not because its all about winning. Each time we head out the door with equipment in hand I try and remind myself of this because it seems the parental peer pressure can be a bit crazy.

Weekend Walkers

Why is it that seeing someone do something as normal as walking can bring me to tears? Give me a lump in my throat? Over this past weekend three dear friends (that I know of - and possibly more) walked in the Weekend to End Breast Cancer. Its 60km through the streets of Toronto, raising money to fight this and many other cancers. Its an incredible sight...4,757 women and men walking in long lines throughout the city. Together these people raised over $13 million dollars for cancer research. That's almost $3000 each.

As all these people trudged through the rain over the weekend I was reminded of my trek last year. I'm not sure I realized at the time what an amazing experience it was... I was too caught up in blisters and sore feet.

Yay to all of you who were out there. You inspire me. You inspire others.

Farewell to the (rainy) summer....

Wow - its been *forever* since I wrote anything.... wild. But the summer has flown by and I can't believe that Buckaroo is back at school and the littlest munchkin is in Sr Preschool. Wow.

Things are coming along on the house and Ken's job search continues. He's put his portfolio up on line just recently and is now concentrating more on the Graphic Design side. He's had some bites on the design side so now we need to turn one into a job :) Wish us luck.

We accomplished a few things on the house this summer, got ourselves a finished mudroom and some little improvements in the backyard and elsewhere. It never seems like enough gets done... story of my life.

We've been having fun going to the local farmers market for dinner each Thursday evening this summer and are planning to keep going as long as the weather holds. The market will run until into October - but who knows how long it will still feel like picnic weather. With a sweater almost anything is possible.

Dinosaurs and Soccer Balls

Its been a busy busy week around here.  The kids were super tired after the long weekend, as evidenced by Dec's refusal to get out of bed the other.  Those who know him know that he is up and at it as soon as the sun rises every day.  And usually darned happy about it.  That has not been the case this week.  In fact everyone has been feeling a little sluggish and some days it seems like I have three teenagers in residence instead of two pre-schoolers and a husband as I try and get everyone up and out the door in the morning.

Wednesday Declan's kindergarten class had a trip to the museum and I took a day and volunteered.  The morning and afternoon class went together so it was just less than 50 4 and 5 year olds on the TTC and off to the ROM.  Thankfully there were enough parents helping that it was one parent for two kids and we walked up to the subway, rode over the Bloor viaduct (a VERY exciting moment for the munchkins) and even changed lines so we could exit in the Museum station with all its new totem poles and Egyptian hieroglyphics.  The tour leader was an ex-school teacher and wonderful with the kids.  They paid attention almost until right at the end (they were getting pretty hungry for lunch by then) and had some free time to explore the North American exhibit and the interactive areas before we had our bag lunches and left.  By the time we returned to the school they were exhausted.   To compound the issue we headed off to the local police station's Community Picnic that evening.  So by the time the kids hit bed they were DONE.

The next day all Declan could talk about was the dinosaur exhibit and what they saw and did while at the museum.  I guess that means it was a success.

Then yesterday was the first of the 'double duty' days when the kids having swimming followed closely by Declan's soccer practice/game.   He was a trooper and gobbled some dinner in between the two events and had a great time at soccer. There are a couple of kids from his kindergarten class on his team and he made fast friends with several others.  His smile was as wide as possible the entire time and he cried when we had to go home at the end of the evening. Here's hoping that he continues to love it as much as the summer rolls along.  We'll be playing soccer until Labour Day :)   

Long Weekends!!

Well its always nice to have a long weekend and even better when we can schedule it so that we aren't running all over the place seeing multiple sets of grandparents. Due to scheudling we are in Muskoka this weekend and will be making a different trip to Peterborough when MC is there too.

Unfortunately the weather hasn't been too cooperative and there's been intermittent rain and cloud all weekend. Kudos to the kids who have been able to find fun things to do without driving their grandparents completely over the edge.

Saturday evening we went to the Rush cottage to watch fireworks. The Whites had a big stash and Ted had purchased a bunch so we didn't need to bring any along. Dec had a lot of fun playing and watching the festivities with Owen and they have become fast friends. The kids applauded after each firework ended and although completely exhausted they were disappointed it was all over.

Monday I've had to do a little bit of work but the kids are having a late breakfast and being really good.

Back to the grind tomorrow - lots of work to do - but thats life....

Are they trying to drive me nuts?

My kids are normally quite good in the mornings.  They get up and get dressed, usually without too much hassle - although munchkin girl is getting a little picky about what she wears - and eat their breakfast before heading out the door.  We went through a phase where they seemed intent on not listening to a thing I said but that appeared to have passed.  Now we've moved into the "how can I bug my sibling" phase.  This morning was exceptional.  Pinching, poking, stealing each others toast...  you get the idea.

By the time I got them on their bikes and heading to school I was ready for a nap.

After dropping both off (quite painless this morning) I headed home, swinging up to the Danforth to get a coffee on the way.  As I walked up my front steps I had a sad realization.  In my happy 'drop the kids off at daycare' state I'd managed to leave my keys in Greer's cubby.  I was locked out again.  (for those not up to speed - I did it last week too)  Rather than climb through the slightly ajar and unlocked window in the living room I decided it made more sense to walk back to school and delay the start of my workday.  

It was a beautiful morning for a walk - but I wish I wasn't doing it to correct an earlier mistake...  

Fun on the Street

When we bought our house we really had no idea about the family makeup on our street.  We knew there were lots of kids in the area as we'd seen them in the local park while we were looking in the area.  But were they on our street?  Close by? No idea.

We lucked out.  

In our little block there are 8 kids who like to play outside every time they can...  and a few more chomping at the bit, they just need to get a little but bigger.  I am so glad that my kids can experience street hockey, hide and go seek, bike rides up and down the block and all those great things that I loved growing up.  I had thought it no longer existed in the big city.  But we found a great street with some great neighbours.  The sad part is that four of the kids are moving in  a couple of weeks.  But I think the rest will rally and keep the street spirit alive.  

What a wonderful world....

What a great way to spend a Saturday...  start by getting some good deals at my favorite mom's consignment sale ever... The Great Kids Stuff Sale.  Then spend the rest of the morning playing with the kids on the street....then walk to the local bike shop, find a bright pink bike for the littlest Kelly and a new helmet for the bigger one... back and lunch at McD's with across the street friends... then off to a birthday party for a friend since 1978.  There are a group of us that went to school together from Grade 7 to 13 and we still see each other and hang out a lot.  All were there with husbands and kids in tow and it was incredible to see them all playing together and having fun...  We were so tired at the end of the day that we crashed as soon as the kids were asleep....  *yawn*

off on another busy day today....

Today I learned something new about my neighbourhood

Today, while reading the monthly newsletter from our community association I learned a little history about our new neighbourhood. It used to be called the Midway Annex and its 99 years old. Pretty cool. It sounds weird but I like knowing that my neighbourhood had a name. It's easier than describing it as "further east than Riverdale, but not as far over, or south, as the Beach". Now if I start calling it the Midway Annex, its not like anyone is going to know what I mean. But hey - I can glow in my newfound knowledge.

Here's the excerpt from the newsletter.

The Midway Annex is just one year shy of its centennial as a part of the city. Midway was the name of an area between the City of Toronto (the eastern boundary was just east of Greenwood) and
the Town of East Toronto (the western boundary crossed Danforth about a half km east of Woodbine). In its entirety, Midway, which was annexed in 1909, almost ran down almost to
Queen.

It was a dusty rural road with small wooden bridges over swamps and creeks until pavement and streetcar tracks arrived in 1913. Its market gardens supplied fresh produce and dairy products to the
nearby city, but gave way to a 1920s building boom that followed the end of WWI and the opening of the Bloor viaduct. The name Midway was largely forgotten as this hybrid streetcar/automobile
suburb developed. Also largely forgotten is that for more than 40 years, people from north and south of Danforth walked to the Midway s Midway stri p -- for streetcars into the core, for employment and for nearly ever kind of shop and service imaginable. There were movie theatres,
bowling alleys, several supermarkets, scores of independent food stores, lots of bank branches and a wide range of clothing and shoe stores.

Things changed rapidly after the subway replaced streetcars in 1966. With transit stops suddenly much farther apart, with traffic speeding up in the absence of streetcars and with major retailers
shifting to larger-scale car-dependent business models, Danforth as a pedestrian-friendly destination went into decline.

Okay - so its been almost a year...

The chaos of buying a house, renovating a kitchen, moving into the house, changing daycares, eldest starting Jr Kindergarten, my new job and life I haven't found time to make note of life here.  However, spring has sprung, the grass is riz, so its time to start again.  

Two important things will happen here... 

1. I am going to try really really hard to keep notes on my fitness activities and lifestyle good/bad choices.

2. I am going to try and keep a running log of what goes on in the daily lives of our crew...

So there - I've said it...

Lets see if I can keep it up.

k