My kids are definitely rec sports kids. It can be worth it if you know for sure your child loves it. busy kids stay out of trouble. Of course, nothing is foolproof. But, their is something to be said about "I can't, I have soccer" as a response to certain activities. Especially those after school hours.

I played my own real sports in college (NCAA) and play my own real sports now (competitive golf) so I don't have to live vicariously through my kids athletic accomplishments. This has really helped me keep my 8 year LAX parent drama in check, as I watch it ruin friendships and upset neighbors.....I just go play golf. Screw em.

Anonymous wrote:In our extended family the joke was always “Bobby has hockey” because his parents (my brother and SIL) could never do anything the entire time their son was growing up because they were driving their son all over the universe to play hockey. Ultimately he did nothing with it. He was a great kid and is now a great adult, as are his parents, but I am so glad we didn’t have to do that with any of our kids. An earlier post to suggest that if you don’t have one of these kids you’ll never get it, and that’s probably right. But thank God I didn’t have one of those kids!

They were doing things just not the things you wanted to do.

Anonymous wrote:Honestly it sounds like a bunch of sour grapes from parents whose kids don’t do sports and therefore are not popular. (Let’s be real) Those of us whose kids are athletic make decisions based on what’s best for our family. And I say this as someone who does not do a ton of travel etc.

Ha ha that’s funny. Why would you think that you have to play sports to be popular? My kids had plenty of friends throughout school (and were voted on to things like homecoming court) and none of them were any good at sports. All I cared about was that they were happy and healthy, if fortunate enough to have both of those attributes also worked hard and got good grades. And they all did. I had nothing against the athletes - one of our daughters dated the football star all through high school and ended up marrying him - but it was not a life that I wanted for me. I wanted downtime on weekends!

I have 1 sporty kid and 1 decidedly non-sporty kid. We don't do multiple sports per season, sporty kid does semi-competitive leagues but not travel (at least not yet.) In general we respect schedules so we plan around practices and games for travel etc.

I don't think it's "worth it" in the sense of getting him into college or some other benefit. But he loves to play. Loves it. Gets up and almost immediately wants to bounce or kick a ball. Would happily go to practice every day, all day if that was an option. I know first-hand that not all kids are like that! and if I only had non-sporty kids I would think the soccer moms were nuts. But I love seeing my kids enjoying life, whether that means sports or some other activity.

Honestly it sounds like a bunch of sour grapes from parents whose kids don’t do sports and therefore are not popular. (Let’s be real) Those of us whose kids are athletic make decisions based on what’s best for our family. And I say this as someone who does not do a ton of travel etc.

In our extended family the joke was always “Bobby has hockey” because his parents (my brother and SIL) could never do anything the entire time their son was growing up because they were driving their son all over the universe to play hockey. Ultimately he did nothing with it. He was a great kid and is now a great adult, as are his parents, but I am so glad we didn’t have to do that with any of our kids. An earlier post to suggest that if you don’t have one of these kids you’ll never get it, and that’s probably right. But thank God I didn’t have one of those kids!