I Had No Idea Until This Year That LAX Doesn’t Always Indicate An Airport

We don’t have sporty kids. Rather, that’s what we used to be able to say…

When they were little, we tried to get them interested in some kind of sport. Knowing what we do these days about children and the importance of getting them moving nice and early, we tried to put various opportunities in front of them, but they never bit. Genetics? Maybe partially.

Jim played a little bit of football as a kid, and was very physically active as a high schooler because he was training to go into the Navy. He ran, lifted weights, and all that jazz. (He even spent lots of time with the Hacky sack!)

Me? The thought of any sport to me, as a kid, was just plain YUCK. I spent lots of time outside with friends, doing cartwheels and roundoffs, but that was the extent of it. I never played organized sports, ever. In fact, I only started exercising regularly when I was 24 years old…and I finally found something I love to do (group fitness).

To be completely honest, when our kids didn’t want to play any team sports we were secretly glad about the fact that our lives wouldn’t be ruled by endless practices and games, and possibly being a family ripped in half if the boys wanted to be involved in totally different things. Also, we live in an area that has a lot of team sports for very young kids where there is no score kept so there is no “winner” and no “loser”. That makes us CRAZY. Why shelter kids from a temporary disappointment? Isn’t that part of life, learning to deal with disappointment when it happens? Anyway…

The boys have mainly done “solitary” sports, like rollerblading and bike riding. And that’s been good enough.

Early this year, the fifteen-year-old came home from school suddenly wanting to get involved in Lacrosse. Not even really knowing what it is, we were so excited that he finally–on his own–found a sport to be excited about that we promptly took him out to get all the equipment (pads, stick, ball, helmet, cup…) from Play It Again Sports (just in case, right?). He spent the summer practicing in the school field, sometimes with us. We signed him up for a skills workshop too. He is doing core conditioning once each week with other boys from his high school, and for Hanukkah we signed him up for a three-day intensive clinic coached by players from the Chicago Machine. That’s what he did from Thursday through yesterday and though he’s tired and sore, he had a great time.


Look for number 6: that’s him!

He’s looking forward to tryouts in a few weeks, because what he really wants to do is play for his school. Keep your fingers crossed!

8 Comments

  • Melissa

    Lacrosse is getting to be a really big thing lately. I hope he does well in the try outs and kudos to you for investing in him to help him do his best.

    I’m a lump on a log. I like to exercise when I feel well but it’s been awhile.

  • k a t i e

    It’s also brilliant fun to play on horseback – perhaps buy him a pony for his birthday and keep up the enthusiasm! J/k, of course.

  • bmg

    LOL! I learned that (LAX double meaning) in the last couple of years, too. But I think it’s great that he found something he just wants to do (rather than so many of those parents who shove their kids into a sport just b/c everyone’s doing it! Good luck to him! I hope he gets to play for his school!

  • Melisa

    Melissa: I know, it’s weird to me that I had hardly heard of Lax until earlier this year, but it seems to be very “stylish”.

    Katie: ROFLMAO! Good one. Maybe I’ll start saving. LOL

    BMG: Thanks. Yes, I agree: I could have never forced him to do a sport…seems like it’d be more work for ME, right?

  • suchsimplepleasures

    the only exercise my kids get…video games. you should see the muscles in their forearms…i wouldn’t mess with them! but, i signed my oldest son up for basketball…it starts next friday! he’s really excited about it and some of his really close friends are on his team…so, we’ll have to see what happens. only problem…shabbat but, oh well…we’re reformed so, we’ll just restart our shabbat dinners, after his basketball season!
    have an awesome new year!

  • Kat

    I love your take on not shielding kids from temporary disappointment.So with you on that. How else will they learn to cope with disappointment when they get older and it really matters. I think they would all turn into that dude from “American Psycho” sooner or later.

    Happy New Year Melisa! Hope 2008 will be a great year for you and your family.

  • Melisa

    SSP/Mel: Don’t you hate the Friday stuff? That and the Sunday morning activities really bother me; I hate having to make those choices.