T-Ball Drama

Oh, another summer, another fun season of baseball. Did I say fun? Scratch that. I meant to say interesting.

Last year my son played t-ball, and at age three, there were really only a few kids that sort of knew what they were doing. Luckily, by the end of the season, all of the kids were hitting the ball and finally seemed like they were enjoying playing.

Well, an entire year later, with no baseball playing in between, I feel like we are back in June 2008. One good clue to let me know it is, in fact, June 2009 is my almost 19 month old daughter who wants to run all over the place and get into everything!

Last summer, my son batted left-handed - which makes sense since he is left-handed. And as I mentioned in a previous post, he has loved using his Better Batter Baseball and has been swinging left handed. Wouldn't you know, today, he decides he has no idea what side he wants to bat from. He is gripping the bat like he has never done it before. Of course, my son could care less about what he is doing. However, his very nice coach (who thinks these four year olds should be playing like 10 year olds) was not so thrilled.

Luckily, my husband was able to get off work early today to take Jacob to his first practice and help out with the kids. But he was less than thrilled to get the question, "Your son played last year?" from the coach. And at one point, when our lovely son was goofing around too much with the other kids, the coach apparently told him to go sit down if he couldn't listen, so my husband pulled him off the field, walked over to me, and said he is not ready for this.

Not ready for this? Are you kidding me? He is four. This is supposed to be fun and for socialization. There aren't any Dodger or Yankee scouts in the outfield. Am I so wrong to think that coaching kids at this age is more about teaching them team work and the overall concept of the game and not how to hit ground balls vs. pop-ups?

Naturally, I would be more than happy to help coach if I didn't have to keep dirt and baseball bats out of my daughter's mouth. Not that I know a thing about baseball (actually I do), but I would like to think I know a little bit about structure and discipline. But this whole situation made my husband and I question our parenting. Give me a break! Our son is a great kid and we are good parents.

Uggghhh! This is supposed to be fun! I need to keep reminding myself (and my husband) of that. Now I need to go bake some cookies for Thursday's practice...I am in charge of treats!