I got kids who play sports.
I got a husband.
I got a husband who plays sports.
I do not play sports.
Never have.
It’s no big deal when you are a kid, to not play sports. When you are a kid there are
usually other kids around who don’t play, so you gravitate towards each other
and stand around together and you don’t play sports.
You read books or go swimming or watch TV or ride bikes or
make up games where you are a mom who bosses all the other kids around and they
make an arsenal of mud pies and gang up to throw them at you when you are in
the play house pretending to make dinner for all your brats.
I called that game “The Future.”
But when you grow into an adult who didn’t play sports as a
kid, it can be isolating. Now don’t go
all patronizing and coo in my ear, all, “Oh, who cares. Sports are for kids. So you didn’t throw a ball around when you
were young. Big deal.” It IS a big deal. Because I live in America, people, where sports are a BIG DAMN DEAL. And if you didn’t play them, you are a
weirdo. What’s more, the biggest reason
why I didn’t play sports as a kid was not because I am not athletic. I am. It’s
because I am not competitive. I don’t
care about winning. And when you don’t
care about winning, no coach in America is going to want you on his or her team.
If you’ve played sports all your life, you understand competition,
and see the world in shades of first, second, and loser. Everything is fair game for a battle, every meeting
the opportunity for one-upmanship.
Now look. I’m all in
for being the best you can be, for doing well to get ahead, for presenting the
best part of yourself to the public. This
makes sense to me. It is logical that
when one team gets more points than the other team, that team is the winner and
the other team is the loser. Every game
is a competition. I get it. But I don’t care if I win.
Which makes it easy to play games against me. I do my best, but I won’t go that extra step
to be better than you. Why? Partly because I don’t care, but also partly
because I know that you want it more than me.
It’s how it goes when my husband and I play games. He’s never lost to me. Not once.
Not in bowling, cards, video games, board games. Even if I might be winning, when he sees the
score, he ramps up his performance to get the edge. He’s the guy on the road who speeds up when
he sees you’re about to pass him. And my
reaction is always: If you want to beat me, go ahead. I’ll slow down; you can pass.
This way of life has served me well; not much bothers
me. There is no competition in my
everyday work; no one in my neighborhood is handing out trophies for who has
the whitest bath towels. The Mommy Wars
roll right off my back. I don’t care if
you’re the most Pinteresting mother out there.
There’s YouTube to watch and chores to avoid. Come over and I’ll make you my famous yogurt
and black coffee breakfast.
However, I do wonder if my non-competitive nature is doing a
disservice to my kids. Both of my kids,
because they spend more time with me than their dad, have the same kind of accommodating
attitude, which can slide into nonambitiousness. Which makes it frustrating when we try to push
them to do better. They don’t always see
the value in working harder, in testing limits, in doing better to yield better
results. Sometimes I realize that this
is a hallmark of kid behavior, but sometimes I’m afraid my ultra-cooperative
nature has rubbed off on them negatively.
So what’s a gentle mom to do? Yell “KILL! KILL!” at every basketball game, or
whisper “Sweep the leg” Karate Kid-style when the other team’s pitcher runs off
the field? Should I call them the
dumbest kid ever when they fail to get the best score on a test so they are prompted
to do better the next time, or boast loudly to others in front of them for
getting the best score so they are motivated to always beat their classmates?
Or should I continue to smile at my kids, telling them “Great
work, keep it up” when they do well, and “Man, that stinks, at least you know
where to improve” when they don’t? Because
quite frankly, this is what works for me. Will it work for them? I’m really not sure.
*******
I have never been surrounded by sports people. Well ... my dad used to scream at the TV when there was a game on, but he never invited me to play in his reindeer games. My husband is athletic, but not competitive. I guess we will be normal people too.
ReplyDeleteYes, yes. It's good to get a fresh perspective and comforting to know that I am in good company!
DeleteThank you!
Hmm...another non sporter-er here. Married to a non-sports-er. Pretty sure our offspring is headed the same way. I can be athletic - loved martial arts. But that's more individual. Guess that's why I loved it (and never team stuff). I'm just not that into it. Hub thinks he's athletic. He likes to hike. He likes beach volleyball...but not the sand. Hmm. He thinks he's good at it...he's not. But he just enjoys it, which is good enough, right? We are doing just fine. Granted, at gatherings where all the sports-ers are talking about the sports stuff that we know nothing about because, well, we just aren't interested...then we're the weirdos. But I think no matter who you are or what you're into, if you own it and you are happy with who you are, then never mind anybody else. There are lots of ways to teach and encourage hard work and dedication. And you know what? Somebody just has to be the laid-back guy, right? If my Hub weren't the laid-back slow down so others can pass guy, well, we probably wouldn't be married. I say whatever works.
ReplyDeleteWill what works for you work for your kids? Who the heck knows??? That's the crap shoot we parents all play every stinking day, isn't it? We can only be who we are. Period.
Meanwhile, thanks for the Karate Kid reference - now I want to watch that.
It's nice to know that I am not the only one. Around here I attract mostly competitive, Type-A people. It's exhausting. And you are so right about the kids. Who knows how they will turn out?
DeleteYou're welcome for the Karate Kid reference; both old and new are hits in this house.
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