Let Kids Have The F Word

It's Little League season and I'm excited.  I'm excited to see kids taking grounders and batting practice on baseball fields everywhere.  I'm excited to see them wearing their too-baggy uniforms and learning the fundamentals of the game (cue to 9:20 for a classic example of that.) And I'm excited to see them having fun.  Yep, I said the F Word.  "Fun."

What I'm not excited about is seeing the way too over-bearing parents (Dads or Moms, by the way) ruining the fun for the kids.  You've seen them.  The ones who maybe (and that's a maybe) were really good when they played, so they demand their kids be as good as they were.   Or the ones who were not really good and somehow think their only redemption is making their kid succeed for them.  The ones who yell, grunt, and mutter on EVERY play their kid makes.

I understand you want kids to succeed and win.  They should pay attention, practice, and play hard.  But I also think playing a game is also supposed to be fun (there's the F word again.)  And yelling, nagging, and nit-picking every move is not fun for anyone:  the coaches, the kids, or the other parents in the stands.  I'm not talking about High School kids here.  I'm talking about kids ages 6-10 who are just finding out what they like and don't like.  I'm no Nostrodamas, but I predict if you grind them down with constant negativity they won't perform well and  won't like playing.  Let them make mistakes, learn from them and improve.  Oh, and let them have fun. 

So get ready for the parade.  Get ready for the practices. Get ready for the games.  And if you're going to yell at someone, yell at Kelly Leak for riding his motorcycle across the field, not your kid for trying to have fun outside instead of staring at a screen.  (And let's be glad for what our kids have. Here is a link to my friend Rob's organization called Affirmative Athletics.  They help kids that don't even get the chances our kids get.)
On a totally unrelated (but somewhat related) note, while "researching" this blog I was reminded there was NO NEED to remake The Bad News Bears.  The 1976 original is still the best baseball movie ever, and the message still stands up.  (See above blog for message.)