Youth Sports – Is it All Too Much?

What is it about youth sports that gets even the most tame and timid parents revved up and completely crazed? We live in a culture where sports leagues are starting children at even earlier ages and all we can do as parents is hold on for the ride, because of course, if we don’t sign our children up for said sports, we feel like we are depriving them of important life skills.

As a parent I believe in keeping my children active, therefore I do have a household rule that they need to be in one activity or sport per season. Recently, I find myself walking a very fine line between participating and PARTICIPATING. Signing your child up for a seasonal sport no longer means a few practices, and a few games. Coaches have high expectations of the child and the child’s family. Missing a practice? Not acceptable. Playing a few sports at a time? You better pick just one to focus on. I think sports are great for teaching children skills, but at what cost? And when is enough enough and we just let our kids be kids?

Like I said, I want my children to participate, but I want them to enjoy it. If they are expected to practice multiple times a week, play games the other days of the week, and then take extra skills classes on top of it, that can get to be too much for any child, heck it would be too much for any adult! As adults we have our active outlets, but do we sign up for traveling tournament teams and neglect our family night after night to practice? Most likely not. So why do we do that to our kids? And most importantly why do I, as a mom, feel guilty if I don’t sign my child up for every single team, league, and tournament under the sun? Is it selfish of me to want more family time? Am I a bad parent for not wanting to spend every weekend driving hours away so my child can play a game or two? And let’s just take a moment to talk about siblings. Younger siblings most often get dragged to games and practices they don’t want to be at until they are of an age old enough to play, and then your job as a driver and cheerleader gets even harder. Now you have to figure out how to balance double the games and practices! I am honestly tired just thinking about it.

Last fall my son decided to take a season off from a certain sport, and let me tell you – it was AWESOME! I was able to spend time after school with the kids enjoying activities we never would have been able to do had we had a sports schedule to keep. I knew it would all come to an end once winter sports season hit, but I enjoyed every moment of those few fall months.

Let’s be real, most of our children are not going to become professional athletes. So why are we training them up to be? I would be ecstatic for my children to play in high school, create memories with their friends and of course be the best they can be, whether that means star player or star bench warmer. What I don’t want is for my child to look back at his childhood and only remember playing sports. There is so much more!

In the end, I know that this youth sports culture is not going anywhere, so I will enjoy the time I have with my kids before it becomes too limited.