Hey #6.
Watching you from the bleachers, you look like a big kid smacking on Big League Chew wearing your uniform that includes a belt. You never wear a belt.
Your face is mostly serious, concentrating on the next play, what you’ll do if the ball makes it to you.
Then you run and jump, just messing around, and you look like a nine-year-old boy again.
You may be tall and look old for your age, but you’re still a boy, and there are a few things I want you to know about baseball.
You will miss balls. They will go through your legs and over your head flying past you.
You will throw balls instead of strikes.
You will walk batters.
You will hit batters with pitches.
You will walk in runs.
You will over throw.
You will under throw.
You will throw it to the wrong person and past the right person.
You will miss tags.
You will strike out.
You will get hit by pitches.
You will miss the sign to steal.
You will be thrown out.
You will be the third out.
You will leave the bases loaded.
You will hit into double plays and you will hit pop ups that turn into easy outs.
That doesn’t mean that you won’t get it right a lot of the time, but there will be mistakes.
People will cheer when you make a mistake. They’re not being mean. Your mistakes are usually good for their team.
Some days you’ll be on.
Some days you’ll be off.
There will be streaks.
There will be slumps.
There will be games where the mercy rule is employed.
You might fail many more times than you succeed.
If you keep at it, things will go your way. But not every time.
No one expects you to be perfect. Not your coaches. Certainly not me, or your dad.
Sometimes it’s hard for us to watch you play. Not because we care about winning. We couldn’t care less about that. But because it’s hard to see you learn things by making mistakes.
But that is how you learn. How you get better. How you grow.
We know that. But sometimes it’s still hard.
I want you to have fun. But I also want you to respect the rules, your teammates, your coaches, and your opponents even when things don’t go your way.
I will watch as you do your best. And as long as you’re having fun, I am too.
I’m really proud how you never seem to get frustrated. You just go out there with your head up and try again.
It’s only a game after all.
I just need you to know two things:
1. There will always be another game, another chance, as long as you want to play.
2. There is nothing that can happen on a baseball field that would make us love you any less.
We love you more and more every day.
Love,
Mom
#tenyearsaparent is a weekly blog series about what I’ve learned in my first ten years as a parent. Whether you’re a parent nodding in agreement or shaking your head with disgust or a non-parent using these posts as birth control (the surgeon general wants me to tell you that reading blog posts about parenting is not an effective form of birth control), I’ll be spilling the beans on what parenting is really all about.
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Sounds like a conversation I just had 2 nights ago. Well done, Kaly! You made me cry.
I love watching them play, but man, it’s hard sometimes…
Made me cry, too. I mean tear-up. Wished I would have read this some 35 years ago, before I started coaching your husband.
It’s so very easy to get caught up in whether they play well..this is as much as a reminder for me as it is for my kids!!!
Brought back so many memories. A big lump in my throat and tears in my eyes. I wish I could have expressed this to my players-whatever sport. But you are right, baseball leaves you hanging out there on your own, on the mound, in the batter’s box, or in the field and you can’t hide. Hard to watch someone you love learn their lessons in front of the world. Well played, Kaly! Beautiful piece.
love!
Aw, love this. My older boy is in gymnastics and I often tell him how much fun it is to watch him… I remember reading somewhere about how parents often talk to their kids about “that was a great pitch” or “awesome goal,” things like that, but then if the kiddo does poorly, they don’t talk about that so much… the kids start to think it’s about how well they play and not the pure joy of the game. This reminds me of that piece (in a good) way.
It’s such a fine balance – wanting them to find success in something that they love but not putting too much emphasis on the success. Still trying to figure it all out…
I really enjoyed reading this…sweet and simple!! Well done!
Great attitude and outlook to pass on! Doing it right!