This mom's perspective

Been awhile since I've posted here. Anything positive anyway.

Soccer season is wrapping up now. Thankfully. It has been one busy summer and Pat and I were just asking eachother, "What summer?" Anyway, the older girls have decided that they would like to take a break from soccer, they simply don't want to play school soccer. I think that both Pat and I are just too exhausted to fight them on that.

I know that our oldest is still struggling to get her knee to heal while the other is just not too thrilled with the girls that play on the school team. No matter that Pat and I have tried to tell her that it's not about them, she knows what she went through last year. Girls and the backstabbing and the nastiness.

So, our two youngest are now in their last days for this season.

I have actually been in awe of our son or should I just say the boys in general. For years I have watched Pat coach the girls and listened to him talk about the frustrations he faces. And as a spectator, I too feel that frustration.

When the girls were 7 years old, they didn't have a clue what the point of soccer was. "Score a point? What's that? Oh, there's a net? Wow, oh, there's my friend!" And there were those who coached the girls over the years too who coddled, and deterred that competetive edge. Of course there were also those girls who were more tomboyish and got the idea. But ultimately, the girls were as expected, girls. Sorry, that sounds anti-feminist doesn't it. Well, from my perspective in this area, there are many differences that are very obvious to the naked eye. But I am not saying that girls are worse, just different. Whatever....

We started our son in soccer when he was 5. Everyone knows what a bug boy he is. Well, that first year, he showed very little interest in soccer. He spent more time stooping down looking for grasshoppers than anything else. Keep the ball from going in the net? Hell, he thought it was cool for that to happen and many times just watched as the ball rolled past him into the net. In fact, I began to worry after awhile because the kid never showed ANY interest in sports of any kind.

Oh how I miss those days. Well, kind of. Now he is all about sports. He still looks for those bugs every day and has moved onto snakes and skinks but if given a choice, he would sit and watch the sports channels all day everyday, no question.

The point of this post? Well, the differences in boys vs. the girls. HUGE! In the physical aspect. Let's skip to this years soccer season. Last week for example, I was sitting there talking to a mom who aches to have a girl and has 4 sons already. I was telling her how amazed I was at the aggressiveness in boys and how it's like second nature to KNOW what to do with the ball, staying in their position, and the idea of the game at the ripe old age of 7. How the boys hunger for that ball whereas the girls stand around and wave to mom or chat with their friends.

Anyway, as I sat there watching, a boy from the other team was running down my sideline with the ball. Our son was a defender and all the sudden he comes barrelling head on towards this kid. It literally happened right at my feet. The two of them collided full body and both flew backwards. I gasped loud enough for the entire 4 fields of soccer going on ready to spring out of my chair thinking one of them was going to be hurt. Man, I have been watching girls too long and had to react far too many times in such situations. I was just leaning forward to get up and both boys looked at the other, giggled and got right up and went about playing as if nothing happened. I watched my son to make sure he wasn't trying to be tough but in the end, he was absolutely 100% fine. How is that? Had that been girls, they would have had to stop the game and tend to them and the girls would have had to go see their moms. Oh, and us mom's would have to go coddle the girls too.

Our boy and his teammates have had a great season. They've lost one game, tied one and won the other 4. Our son has had break-aways resulting in goals, slide tackles, and been an all around participant as well as a good team player. I don't want to sound biased but I cannot seem to help myself. I'm impressed and surprised at this new experience. Perhaps it helps that he has spent his entire life watching his sisters play and their father teaching. I don't know but I sure do look forward to his older years and what will be.

Our next venture with our two younger ones will be the ski team for our daughter and hockey for our boy. The older two are in between things, our oldest still set on the military and the other not sure what she'll do. But, stay tuned for more of my worries, fears and of course, my swelling heart for kids that I truly adore.