Missing out on childhood for tournaments, etc
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Anonymous
No matter the kids age or whether or not they actually like these types of activities, free time is so important. I don't think kids get nearly enough. |
Anonymous
Free time is important for little kids, but as they approach middle and high school, learning to balance IE athletics and academics and/or other activities including community service and music, becomes more important. Just like adults have to balance a job, parenthood and community. |
Anonymous
| They don't need to be heavily scheduled to learn any if that. They're still kids, activities aren't bad, overscheduling is. |
Anonymous
Travel sports are typically a couple practices a week and tournaments here and there. How much free time do you think a kid needs? |
Anonymous
The ppl I know that have their kids in travel sports are far busier than that. It seems like it's a constant thing. As far as free time, when I was growing up alot of my time was free time. Aside from school/chores as was alot of kids I grew up with. Activities weren't a huge deal. |
Anonymous
No one expects apologies from the privileged. It is annoying though when people who consider their high level the norm, and act as if it should be easy for everyone. |
Anonymous
Times change. Besides PP is right. Travel sports aren’t Olympic training events. Kids still have free time to play in the neighborhood, practice an instrument, read, study. |
Anonymous
That is your perception of their life and probably not their reality. While some free time is important for development, too much free time can also be a detriment. |
Anonymous
| My kid LOVES tournaments and chooses to skip birthday parties for a tournament. The tournament is another time to hang out with friends and not always about the sport or games. |
Anonymous
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It’s one instance where he was lucky people had video which told a different story than the one she was portraying.
It’s almost like you need a consent video. There are a lot of cases where a woman does this for vengeance, attention or feels shame and says it was rape the next morning. It ruins lives. It’s a no win because you don’t want to miss actual rape victims and make women afraid to come forward. |
Anonymous
Yikes! Obviously this was for the Azaria thread. |
Anonymous
| For DS tournaments have been some of the most memorable part of his childhood - getting to do what he loves, bonding with teammates, forging lifelong friendships, getting to visit different cities and even states. We as parents have loved it as well. Some of our best friends now are other baseball parents. |
busymama
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I totally agree with the comment that this is your perception more than their reality. I have one kid in a very high intensity sport and one in a travel sport plus club swimming. They are "busy" with sports and give things up for their sports, but have plenty of time to just be kids. We coordinate birthday parties with close friends and they avoid missing them. We miss practices or games for important family events and make sure the kids have down time at home. While kids may occasionally be dragged to a siblings game, practice of event, they're not missing out on their own events for their sibling and they can use that time to play on a playground or read. Is not a bad life for my kids and we're not making changes because other people wish we were available on their schedule. |
Anonymous
| My DD passed up a lot of HS stuff for tournaments but it was her choice and what she really wanted to do. |
Anonymous
Yeah I think it's only a certain kind of kid who tinkers with stuff in their free time. The kids I know how are like this aren't really interested in sports. Not everyone who ends up in STEM was a tinkerer in childhood. On the topic of not having downtime or time to get bored and figure out how to entertain yourself... with certain sports you actually do engage in some level of this. I was a swimmer and spent a lot of time staring at the black line on the bottom of the pool. You have to pay attention to what you're doing, but at the same time a lot of it is repetitive and automatic. I remember having a lot of time to think while I swam. I would come up with all kinds of ideas and would entertain myself by translating every thought I had into the language I was learning at the time. So I was definitely getting some cognitive benefits in addition to the exercise. I realize team sports taking place on land don't really offer this type of quiet time. But I would bet a similar thing happens for cross country runners or other sports where there's a lot of repetition or waiting around alone? |