While on most days I am still trying to adjust to the fact that my boys are all grown up and don’t need me quite like they used to, there are days when I see the awesomeness of it all. It occurred to me when Haden my middle child who is now 21 invited us to come watch his adult league soccer game. Haden has played soccer ever since he was around 10 years old. The amount of time, money, meetings and traveling that was involved over the years was ALOT! On top of all of that it was SO stressful as a parent, I really didn’t realize it until I sat down to watch this game, I noticed I was not stressed out. It used to be so stressful, worrying about playing time, and how well he played, analyzing every move the kids would make, you literally turn into some kind of crazy soccer mom. When your kids are living in such a competitive area it’s hard to not get caught up in it all. Lets be honest for a second, most of these kids are not going to play past high school and those who do will never play further than college. It really is kind of ridiculous how much pressure we as parents and coaches put on these kids. I realize that competitive sports are good for kids, it teaches them discipline, hard work and helps them deal with losing, and sportsmanship and things like that, But I am not entirely sure it’s good for us parents. I was never a crazy soccer mom that yells at the coaches or screamed crazy things out loud, but that’s not to say I wasn’t thinking them and I would sit there and let little things get to me and eat at me during the whole game, and the Mama bear in me would really come out if someone purposely hurt my child! It was just a nice change of pace to see my boy and his good buddies playing a friendly game of soccer, yes it still got competitive but It was just a game, plain and simple, at the end of the day it didn’t mean anything more than a group of good friends having a good time together. I love NOT being a soccer mom!
Janna's Journey 