Reply to What to do when a young kid complains about a sport?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I have an 8 year old on a travel team. Probably the same sport based on what you have said. This is a tough one because you have the spring season coming up and it's not great for anyone to have a kid who doesn't really want to be out there. The kid is miserable and it affects the team negatively. We signed our 8 year old up based on his level of enthusiasm for the sport and his frustration with rec. I have no delusions that it will lead to college recruiting or anything like that. He never complains about practice and gets upset if we are running late (doesn't want to miss anything -- not worried about getting in trouble over it). He commented the other day that he's looking forward to the spring season. The club we chose is not as intense as some others out there. Winter has been much less practice/more laid back. I can't imagine why a club would ramp up training in the winter for the young kids, when fall and spring are intense enough already. That sounds like a recipe for burnout. My son has still had time for other rec-type sports even in the fall/spring. We would not have signed him up for a team/club that prevented him from doing other activities. Not at this age.

I can tell a couple of the kids on my son's team were signed up because it's something their parents wanted for them. They care more than the kids and it shows. I would talk to the coach so they know what's going on and are ok with your child missing practice or games sometimes if that's what it takes to get through spring, assuming the roster is big enough to handle their absence. If it were my kid I would also expect less playing time in games to come along with that and explain that to my son. Then don't go to tryouts for next year. Go back to rec and/or explore other sports/activities. There's plenty of time to jump back into travel if your son finds himself missing it and wanting to commit more.
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PP thinking a little more... if your son is truly miserable and would be happy to no longer be a part of this team at all, then I would actually just pull him from spring assuming they could fill the spot with a kid from another team within the club. Now would be the time to have that conversation so the coach can plan accordingly. You wouldn't get your money back but right now between winter and spring would be a good logical stopping point as opposed to midway through the spring season. Then your son could either sign up for rec or just try something else for spring. [/quote]

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