You know how sometimes you feel like you are the Best Parent in the World? Yeah, today isn’t one of those days for me.
My oldest decided to try out for the select basketball team in our area. He’s always loved basketball, and he’s pretty good at it. But in the midst of soccer season, he neglected to even pick up a basketball prior to the tryout. I still thought he’d do okay, though.
The day of the tryout, he came to me practically in tears. He said he didn’t want to go; he wasn’t interested in playing basketball anymore. This turned into a long discussion, and we eventually ferreted out that he was worried he wouldn’t be able to perform. On the one hand, it’s good he has Jason and me as parents — Jason understands the psychology of sports, and I (sort of) understand the complexity of Jack’s anxiety. On the other hand, sometimes I feel like I upset him more by discussing all those emotions at one time, and Jason is sometimes at a real loss as to why Jack feels so intensely.
We talked him into going the tryout. And he didn’t do great. The kid I saw on the court was not the one I watched all last season in recreational league. This new kid was reserved, nervous and not giving his best effort. Normally, Jack is pretty competitive. He dives for loose balls and blocks bigger opponents without a second thought.
He didn’t make the team. Worse yet, most of his friends did. Despite his feeling ambivalent about playing for the season, he was crushed. He didn’t make excuses; he realized this was less about his talent and more about attitude and work ethic. My heart hurt for him.
I did my best to comfort him and reminded him to learn from this experience. There will be more tryouts to come. I told him failure is a part of life, and it’s how we grow. In my head, though….
I was berating myself for not signing him up for that basketball clinic earlier in the year. I was angry at myself for not making him eat before the tryout, even though he insisted he didn’t want to. I felt like I failed right along with him. He’s 10, right? I’m supposed to know these things.
When my cooler parenting head prevails, I know this experience was good for him — that it will only make him stronger and smarter in the future. It’s just that as his mom, I have the intense urge to shield him from pain. I finally understand why it made my mom so nervous whenever my sister or I tried out for anything.
We will move on. Odds are, when Jack gets home from school today, he will already be mostly over it. My oldest kiddo is sensitive and emotionally complex like me. He’s also tough, and I like to think he gets that at least partially from me as well.
Maybe it’s good I didn’t make him practice before or make him eat or whatever else I think I could have done to change the outcome. Maybe this lesson, this version of falling down, will teach him how to get back up again. Hey, maybe I learned something too.
Love this. I truly think that it’s better for kid learn at such a young age, then an age that it could affect them more. Also, I think it’s really good for a kid to learn to do things for none other then the sake of loving it. Not because you’re good at it. There is so much to gain from that.
Thanks, Hollie. That’s a good point about doing something sheerly for the sake of enjoyment — the path to an active life longterm.
Excellent! As always, I totally relate. What’s funny is that for me it seems I’ll always be able to put at least some blame on myself. Like, if I did make him eat and he threw up on the court because he was actually too nervous to eat I would give myself 40 lashes! Haha!! It’s good that he is able to own the responsibility of not making the team. Sometimes our struggle may be to let them own it instead of smoothing it over all the time. Ugh it’s hard. We don’t want our babies to suffer but we do want them to learn!
I know! No matter what I’d done beforehand, I’m sure I could’ve found fault with it. Why are we like that??