Perspective

Dear Lovely Children of Mine,

We adore watching you play sports and have fun! We love seeing your smiley faces as you practice with your teammates, your respectful listening when a coach is talking or working with you on a skill. Mommy and Daddy encourage involvement in a lot of different sports and keep you busy each season because we see the life long value...not of being the best, or having any delusions that you will be a professional __________, but because of the character, teamwork, integrity, sportsmanship, and enjoyment these activities provide.  

We promise to always make sure you're on time to practice, at your games ready to go, and that you understand that school work, family, and faith come first, but if you make a commitment to a team you keep it. 

We will never call a coach and complain or question playing time. You will need to talk with them first. We will never negatively talk about a coach who is usually a volunteer or greatly underpaid. We will never require you to play a sport that you don't like; but if you begin a season you will finish. We will never yell obnoxious things from the sidelines nor will we allow you to display anything but positive sportsmanship.

We will yank your buns off the field, court, or mat if you ever act like a brat, use a sassy mouth, or intentionally push/shove/hit someone in a manner not related to the sport. We will require you to get your homework done, even if you're exhausted from practice and just want to go to sleep. 

We will never buy you ridiculously expensive shoes or equipment simply because everyone else has it. We promise to spend time working with you at home throwing, catching, shooting, etc. If you want to.  We will support you when games or matches don't turn out like you wanted by giving you love and positive talks. Not by blaming others. We will embrace the teams you end up on;

Not complain or whine that things aren't fair. We will never move for sports. 

We will always be your biggest fans, but we will never live vicariously through you. We will encourage you to find enjoyment, while also realizing what sports are really about.  We will be proud of you win or lose and always work to help you see the big picture of things..the important lessons and character building moment sports provide...not the sport itself, or the trophy or glory, but the life long lessons and memories. 

To the moon and back,

Mommy and Daddy