The Parenting Thread • Page 67

Our kid has done soccer and baseball... and all soccer leagues (in both NC and MA) have been a joke so far... no keeping of score, terrible coaching, all parents thoroughly unimpressed with how they've been run. Baseball's (tee-ball) been alright.

 

How old?

 

Our league is all parents as coaches if that says anything. It's more about getting them used to things and teamwork and such than anything else

 

Starting on potty training this week, wish us luck

 

Isn’t he almost 4?

 

Nope, turned 3 in September

 

Big kid!

 

Yeah, the first time we put our son in soccer, it was a real joke. The parents would always joke that they do everything but soccer. They'd play tag and just kind of run around. It was strange. It was a beginners/introductory class for 3-year-olds, so for his second stint, we moved him up to a higher league and it was a little more soccer oriented (go figure) and my son loves it. He's pretty good at it too, but for a little kid, it's not too hard to run and kick.

T-ball was OK, they had one coach that really did try to teach the kids, but the rest of the coaches didn't say much or try to help at all. For T-Ball, I was on the field for most of the time helping out because there was so much going on between teaching hitting, running and fielding that some of the parents helped out.

He just started basketball 3 weeks ago and the coaches are coaching too much. Like, already trying to get kids to dribble with their off hand (when they very clearly don't even have a strong hand yet) and jump stops and shooting with a perfect technique form with just their strong hand (whereas most kids shoot with two hands simply because they're not strong enough to shoot with one). My son just turned four in September, and apparently there are kindergartners and 1st graders in this class, so he's really behind them. Had I known that, I wouldn't have even signed him up. It was supposed to be Pre-K only, but somehow older kids got in there.

 

Yeah, my daughter's 3 and we had her in soccer this summer and it was kind of a joke. Half the time she would either just lay on the grass or run off with her friend and do whatever. She started dance at the same time though, and she loves that. One thing I like about it is that the parents aren't allowed in the room with them. It's just the teacher and they all do such a good job listening to her. I think it helps not having the distraction or for them to just come to us whenever they feel like it.

 

We really need to say to ourselves: “Do we expect anything else from our children at 3 years of age”? If they do get into it then that is plus, but the bar at that age is set VERY low.

 

This is one of the most amazing exchanges I have ever seen. Get your tissues out!

 

Two weeks post op from getting snipped... no issues have popped up so that's been nice. Looked like I got hit by a baseball bat for a couple days with coloration but that's all gone now.

 

My wife decided to buy the Elf on a Shelf today. Not too stoked about it since she usually falls asleep putting our older daughter to bed so I’m gonna have to be the one to move it every night

 

Ha, I just moved ours a little bit ago becausewife fell asleep. It gets pretty annoying and hard to remain creative for 30 straight days.

 

I have like 5 ideas right now. Not sure how to keep it up for 30 days

 

We are hoping our kids never know anything about it

 

Yeah I never did that growing up

 

My family never did it either, but we have one now (I think someone got it for Ash as a gift last Christmas). What's the idea behind it? You just hide it and see if he can find it? Am I supposed to give him something if he does?

 

Elf on the shelf? I thought the idea was the elf is watching the kids to tell Santa if they’re being good or not lol

 

I never grew up with it as a kid, but my wife and her siblings did. They have the old school elves from Annalee and they love it so...we’re doing it lol. It’s weird but I roll with it. You’re supposed to move the elf every night so that the kids find it in the morning playing with their toys. Then the elf goes “back to the north pole” to report their findings to Santa on Christmas Eve.

Shrug. It is what it is.

 

Is three still too young? I feel like he won't get it. We'll see - I was planning on starting tomorrow (Dec 1)

 

We actually pulled out the Elf back in like, September, because my son was having a really bad week - behavior wise, so we put him up on the kitchen cabinets for a few days with a note on the fridge coming from the elf that said he heard from Santa that he had to come see him early because he heard our son was being bad. It honestly worked.

I never did it growing up. Actually, I never even heard of it until a few years ago. My wife did it when she was a kid, I think. This is only our second year doing it and I can tell this will be a burden for years to come. My son is already saying things like 'I hope Goofy (he calls the elf Goofy) is doing something funny tomorrow' so we have to try and be really creative. My wife and I aren't all that good about moving him either. Already this year we've left him in the same spot a few nights in a row and we just tell the kids that he must really like that spot. But other nights my wife gets really creative and hangs him upside down on the curtains or last night she had him hold a stick of marshmallows over a fake candle light. It's all ridiculous.

 

My son was 3 when we started. He definitely got it.

 

We have an advent calendar his grandmother made him, similar to the one below. I was thinking of just putting the elf around the house holding the piece for the day. So when he finds the elf, he also gets the put the object on the calendar.

 

That’s actually a really good idea. I forgot we still need to get advent calendars for our kids