Between long nights at the ball fields for countless hours of practices and
games, ungodly amounts of equipment, compiling financial costs, overly
emotional kids, and excessively competitive parents and coaches, it
can become incredibly frustrating trying to survive your child's sports
activities. Then you look at your child and see that they absolutely love every
minute of it, and you realize that it is all worth it. I have 6 ways that
have helped me keep my sanity and love it all as much as my kids do.
1. Crockpots!
How many nights
have you gotten home late from a practice or game, and find yourself still
needing to make something for supper? I urge you to make this a distant
memory by enlisting the power of your crockpot. Almost any meal
you can think of can be made in the crockpot. I personally love the ones
that I am able to prepare ahead and put in the freezer, so that all I have to
take them from freezer to crockpot the day that we want to have that
particular meal. Some meals I have developed on my own by taking
family favorites and making necessary adjustments to be able to freeze &
cook in the crock pot. Other meals I have found by scouring Pinterest; the
following three links are filled with amazing meal ideas and recipes!
http://www.lifewith4boys.com/2012/10/25-meals-in-4-12-hours-freezer-to.html
http://overthebigmoon.com/super-fast-chicken-freezer-meals/
http://lovingmynest.com/learning-activities/freezer-crock-pot-cooking-day/
Using my crockpot not only keeps me from worrying about what I will make for
supper that day, but it also helps keep money in my wallet. Our kiddos know
that we will not be buying from the concession stand since we have a meal
awaiting us at home. And said meal is not only cheaper, but also much, much,
much healthier!
***Helpful tip***
If you aren't going to be home in the middle of the day to start a meal that
needs to be in the crockpot for 4, 6, or even 8 hours, simply use a Christmas
lights timer. All you need to do is plug the timer into the wall
outlet, plug the crockpot into the timer, and set the timer for when it
needs to turn on to ensure correct cooking time.
2. Make Ahead Snacks
Just
because the kids know that there is a meal at home, does not mean that they
will not be hungry at all during the game...especially once they smell the food
being made at the concession stand. I don't want them to fill up on snacks, so
the trick has been to find something satisfying that is healthy and can hold
them over until we do make it home. Some of the snacks that we have tried and
loved are: string cheese, fruit, popcorn, homemade granola, and veggies. My
oldest daughter loves helping make these seemingly ordinary snacks
extraordinary. She has coated green grapes with lemonade mix and then put them
in the freezer...the kids say that they taste like
Sour Patch Kids
candy. She also loves to make her own trail mix version with the homemade
granola, yogurt covered raisins, dried fruit (bananas and pineapples are
favorites of all four kids), and sunflower seeds. I love to see the
combinations that the kids come up with, but mostly I love to see them enjoying
their snacks and not nagging me for concession stand snacks.
3. Baskets & Bags
I am amazed at the
amount of space that becomes occupied by sports equipment and sports. In order
to try to manage this chaos, I have tried many different
methods. The method that I found works best is a combo of baskets and
bags. Each sport has its own basket
and bag. Equipment for
each sport gets stored in our utility room (use whatever space you
have room for this...garage, child's room, etc.) in a basket; we have one
for football, one for track, one for peewee baseball, one for softball, one for
baseball, and one for gymnastics. The size of basket that I use varies
depending on the size of the equipment that is used for each particular
sport...as do the size of bags that we use. All we have to do when going to a
practice or game is put the necessary equipment in its bag and head out the
door; then upon returning home, the equipment goes back into its basket.
***Added Bonus***
Storing equipment in a basket versus a bag in between games and practices
helps keep the smell at bay as it is able to breathe. Plus, I am able to wash
the bag if it does get smelly.
3. Online Sales Sites
The
appeal of new equipment catches everyone; I have even found myself in awe over
how beautiful some ball bats are. However, a quick search of Facebook swap
pages and Craigslist will yield an abundance of used equipment for sale. Most
of this equipment has only been used for one or two years and still has more
than half of its life left in it. So, no matter how awesome that new
bat feels or the brand new leotards looks, save yourself some money and
buy the used ones. After all, spending hundreds of dollars on new equipment
will not have any impact on how your player is able to perform. And since
you're already on the sites, go ahead and make some money of your own by
selling your child's used equipment!
4. Volunteer
I
have found that by volunteering to be the coach or keep game stats I have
less time to get into the gossiping that can occur on the bleachers between
parents. If my focus is on the kids and the game, I am not able to dwell on the
opinions of the spectators. I can't stand the talk that goes on about which kid
should or shouldn't be playing each position and about how the coaches don't
understand or know how to coach. When I do hear this talk (especially about the
coaches), it takes everything that I have to not look at the parents and let
them know what I think. How I think that if they know so much, why are they
sitting in the bleachers instead of stepping up to coach. How I wonder if
their child is such an all-star, why do they fall to the same struggles as all
of the other kids on the field or in the gym. But I don't want to get into it
with the parents. They are my friends and the parents of my kids' friends. I
want this relationship to continue to be a positive one, so I will keep myself
busy volunteering and avoiding any of these confronting moments.
5. Stay Focused
Stay
focused on the fact that the players are kids and their coaches are volunteers.
Nobody on the field is a professional, and not a one of them is getting paid to
be there. Yes, there are kids out there that have dreams of one day becoming a
professional; my son talks nonstop about what his life is going to be like once
he becomes a pitcher in the MLB. But that does not change the fact that he is
only a 10 year old boy at this moment in time. He is still learning the game,
and he is still going to make mistakes...heck, he will still be doing these in
10 years, even if he has made his dreams come true. Focus on what the youth
sports are about. Yes, they are about learning the game and improving on
skills. Yes, winning is more fun. However, youth sports are also about learning
to be a part of a team, learning how to work together to each players strengths
and weaknesses, learning to recognize your own strengths and weaknesses and
make adjustments to improve oneself, learning how to follow instructions,
learning how to respect each other, learning how to have class when you win and
when you lose, and learning how to cope with loss. All of these things are so
much more important than the score at the end of a game, the time at the end of
a race, or the score on the judges’ table of gymnastics meet. Above all else,
though, I try my best to remain focused on the fact that being part of the team
means more to some of these kids than anything else in their life. For many of
the kids, they need the team more than the team needs them. We do not know
everything going on in the lives of the kids, but we do know that youth sports
can be a great escape from what they may be experiencing at home or at school.
6. Be Honest
As a
coach, I would much rather a parent address my personally about any underlying
issues than talk on the bleachers with other parents. I have taken this
approach myself. If I ever have a question for the coach, I will either call or
email them with my concern. I find that this works better than trying to talk
at a practice or a game...again, this will only draw in other parents and begin
the rumor mill. If it is something that I would be too scared to talk to the
coach in person about, then I need to decide if it is truly something that
needs to be addressed. If the answer is yes, then I need to be the adult and
talk to the coach. If the answer is no, then I need to keep my mouth shut and
move on...once again, be the adult. I have found, that by being honest with
myself on the issues that occur, that many of these issues are actually not
even an issue, but rather they are just people (myself included) being petty.
I choose to not be petty and be an adult. I choose to put my child's
interest first in youth sports. I choose to remember that they are children. I
choose to approach the coach personally if I think something has gotten out of
hand between players or coaches. I choose to do my best to remain calm and
logically. And above all else, I choose to survive, the years of my kids play
youth sports, by remembering that they are not playing for me or my dreams;
they are playing because they love to play...I refuse to let anything get in
the way of their love of the sport!
