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!
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