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.