Over the course of the past five weeks, I have come to hate T-Ball. That is a terrible thing for a mother to admit, but it is true. Let me tell you why I feel this way...
Seth has played T-Ball for the past three seasons now. He loves sports of all kinds, so we sign him up for everything. We want our kids to have the opportunity to explore whatever positive activities are out there, whenever possible.
For the most part, this goes well.
As I have mentioned before, Seth is a very passionate child. He is competitive... and he is temperamental. He is also highly sensitive. If you know me... or if you know Phil... you are laughing hysterically. It's just in our genes or something. Give us a break!
This season, Seth was placed on a team with the same coach and most of the same kids from last year, and he was thrilled. I was less thrilled, because I didn't really care for his coach last year. She didn't seem to connect with the kids like some of the other coaches did, and she was especially short with my kids. Grace played last year, as well, but the experience was so miserable; she decided to skip it this time around. I was, however, pleased that there would be some consistency.
My pleasure was short lived.
Phil took Seth to most of the practices, and I showed up for the games, although my attention was somewhat split between Seth's at bats and watching Grace and Caleb attempt to master the monkey bars on the nearby playground equipment.
What I did notice, however, was this: Seth's coach basically spent the entire season trying to humiliate him. Other kids would come up to bat, and she would let them take six... seven... eight pitches! When Seth was up, he got five... max... and then she wanted him to hit off the tee. Now, come on, I know it's T-Ball, but it is a little embarrassing for a six year old when no one else has to hit off the tee. Other kids would hit the ball foul, and she would let them run. If Seth hit the ball foul, she would call him back and make him hit off the tee... again.
Let me stop for a minute and say that Seth is not a bad T-ball player. He was kind of "middle of the road" when it came to his team this year. There were many times when he didn't need all those pitches. He just hit the ball and ran. But no kid is going to be perfect.
Seth was in a league that doesn't keep score, again, which is getting old. Finally, he started making up scores of his own (it's impossible to really keep track, because they just let all the kids run the bases, anyway). To my surprise, sometimes he made his team win, and sometimes he made them lose. That's a lot more mature than what I would have done...
This, of course, was irritating to several of the adults and at least one of his team members (yeah... coach's daughter), but I really didn't care. At some point, that aforementioned little girl came and informed me in her snottiest six year old voice that we don't keep score. I was tempted to pick her up by her pony tail and inspire her to get an imagination, but instead I just told her that Seth has fun pretending... Yes, I was nice...
My other main complaint was that Seth got hit with the ball... hard... as in, in the face, several times, and the coach seemed to think it was unnecessary and inappropriate for Phil or me to talk to him... then or at any other time during the games.
Our season ended when Seth hit a ball... foul by inches or something... and Phil, having had enough, told the coach to let him run. Another parent said something about how we need to teach Seth to play the game right, and it was almost funny, considering he's the only kid out there that is trying to do just that! But I guess "right" is relative when it comes to T-Ball... and maybe when it comes to a lot of other life experiences, too.
With that, let me make it clear: I am my child's greatest critic, but I am also my child's greatest fan! When any of my children are doing something wrong, I am quick to tell them about it, but I am more concerned about the kinds of things that affect the kind of person they are going to become than I am about the kinds of things that affect their popularity. I am hard on my kids sometimes, but I will turn on anyone else who dares to be.
And next year... I think we'll do the coaching...
Lisa
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