Baby’s First Soccer Camp
Here’s Zora, on her way to her first soccer camp.
She’s 8. I saw kids there who were 4 who clearly have been doing this since they could walk.
So now I’m worried that I’ll come back in the afternoon and find her disappointed because everyone is way ahead of her. And it’s all my fault.
Here’s the thing. I’ve deliberately kept my kids out of sports, with a few exceptions. Abram and Zora take swimming lessons every week, all year, for the last two years. They’re not the cheapest lessons, but they are really well done, and I figure swimming is a life skill. Zora says she’d like to do a children’s swim team, so we’re working toward that. She does a beautiful streamline and crawl stroke already, better than I can do (which isn’t saying much). Abram is not 100% fond of the water. But, that just convinces me even more that he needs this.
Zora takes a music lesson once a week, too. We always wanted her to take piano, but it’s guitar right now, because we have a teacher we adore for her. (Last spring, my childhood piano teacher died and I realized that it was just as much about the person teaching as the instrument. So we’re sticking with this teacher, because he’s a lovely human being.)
And that’s it. That is the sum total of the extracurriculars for my kids.
I’ve chosen to do it this way because there’s more time for me to hang out with them, we can go hiking on Saturdays or sleep in because there are no games to go to. Honestly, this is mostly about me being a bit of a lazy parent. I’m kind of protective of my schedule as much as I am of theirs. I actually think parents who have their kids in lots of stuff must have more energy than I do, and I admire them for that effort.
This week, I needed some backup for childcare. So Zora’s off to soccer camp.
And this might be the week that I discover that we are too late for her to pick up a sport because everyone else started so early. Who knows?
Or maybe I pick her up this afternoon and she has discovered a lifelong love of a sport. And we’re going to have to say “buh-bye” to lazy Saturdays.
Parenting. Such a crap shoot.