DANG the ATX be hot.This parenthood thing—like this LIFE THING—can sometimes feel like a crapshoot.
Im sill working at forty three to try and FIND and LIVE my passions—how on *earth* do I expect the Tornado to find and *stick with* hers at age six.
Last year we tried soccer.
It went ok but not great. Id estimate she spent more time doing that kid-thing where they move their arms FAST yet shuffle sloooowly with their feet so they think we parent-types believe they’re running (<——ANYONE?).
She loved being with her friends. She loved the promise of SOCCER! FUN! She disliked the raging heat that was INVARIABLY awaiting us at the fields.
I couldnt blame her either.
Not that Id ever have told HER—but Ren Man and I began to dread practices/games for that very reason…and we werent running around!
Mama so sweaty.She stuck out the season & I told her she could be done with soccer.
*I* was done with soccer. *I* was tired of dancing around, cheering for her, practically STANDING ON MY HEAD trying to get her to run (…and not merely flail her arms).
I let her know I appreciated the fact she’d never.once.whined. about going & that we could try something new.
Something indoors.
Schvitzing.She insisted she wanted to play soccer.
I let the summer pass figuring after the heat of THAT she’d change her mind.
She insisted she wanted to play soccer.
I signed her up—but soccer didnt really fit into our schedule this fall.
She insisted she wanted to play soccer.
I told her coaches we’d wanted to join them but the day/time didnt fit for us & that we’d join them in the spring.
I went to the Tornado’s Meet the Teacher morning and was shown her journal. Inside was printed in large (misspelled) letters:
I LOVE TO PLAY SOCER
And because I apparently need a round ball to come careening toward me and smack me in the cranium BIG SIGN—-I heeded her words, shifted everything around and we started back to soccer.
She was an entirely DIFFERENT Tornado at her first game.
Afterward I told her how proud I was of her. I let her know I’d noticed how hard she’d worked as an individual and as a teammate.
She looked at me part-frustrated and part-confused and said:
That’s why I wanted to play soccer again, mama. That’s how I do, mama, that’s how I do.
Later we talked about changing attitudes when we dont love something & really working (as she had) to shift our perspectives.
She insisted I shoot this video of her changing her attitude around:
Thats pretty much it here on ROLE MODEL MONDAY.
Today Im not hers—-she’s mine.
Im off to tackle my adult version of ‘getting out and running in the sweltering heat when Id kinda rather do something else.”
AND IM GOING TO ROCK IT.
That’s how I do.
