And....we're done.

Avery had her first soccer game this last weekend.  I will admit - this was a learning experience for us both.  Josh had to stay at home to wait for our mattresses that were being delivered, so I was the chosen one who accompanied Avery to her first soccer game.  I mean, first of all, I have never in my life played soccer, so I have no idea what to tell her in terms of how to play the game.  Secondly, I have never had a toddler involved in a team sport, so I had no idea what was typical behavior for a 4 year old at these things.  It started out great.  Avery was really excited to do the warm ups and loved kicking the ball and running after it. 

However, once we entered the actual game and there were 7 other kids who also loved running after the ball and kicking it?  Avery wasn't feeling it.  In fact, this was her favorite position - defense.  Where she just stood there and protected a "castle" which, as it just so happened, was never visited by the other team...

I blame most of this on Josh and I.  I didn't really realize until then that we have never really prepared her for playing in a team sport.  I mean, I explained to her the general object of the game - kick the ball either to someone else on your team or into the goal.  But, I didn't really go into details regarding the assertiveness and the sense of competition  that one needs to have in order to do well with a team sport.  So, I think that she was just very confused as to why the kids weren't playing "nicely" and didn't really get the fact that, at that age, it is to each his own and that you have to be aggressive if you ever even want to touch the ball.  It also didn't help that her first game was on the first Saturday after her first full week at her new school.  Oh -it was also at 8 am (clearly the soccer gods were punishing me for never playing by making me get up at 700 am on a Saturday), so she was EXHAUSTED.  And, this became clear when, with about 10 minutes left in the game, the ball was wide open and close to Avery, so I yelled from the sidelines, "Avery - there's the ball!  Go kick it!" and she looked at me, nearly broke down, ran off the field and.....quit. 

So, here comes the dilemma my friends....it was at that point that I got a glimpse into how I'm going to be as a "soccer mom."  Do I push her to go back in because, after all , this is a game, you can't just quit when the going gets tough!  Or, do I accept the fact that she is just 4 and realize that if I push her to do this, I may scar her emotionally and she will never again want to be part of a team sport????  The decisions one has to make as a parent!  So....I kind of went with the middle of the road.  Because, you see, about 1 min after Avery came off of the field complaining that she was too tired, she then turned around and asked me if we could play on the playground.  This is where I just had to put my foot down.  So, I didn't force her to go back out and play. But, I did explain to her that we were there to play soccer -  not play on the playground and if she was too tired to play soccer, she was too tired to play on the playground.  I thought that was reasonable.  So...the plan was to practice with her this week, but considering she isn't napping at school and is exhausted when she gets home and has to go to bed by 7:30 at the latest, this leaves us with approximately 5.2 seconds from the time that I walk in the door to have dinner, take baths and get to bed.  No time for soccer.  I don't even know what we will do when there is homework involved.  So, for the time being, we'll just bank on the fact that she will eventually get used to it and that maybe she will just take after her mama and be the unbelievably talented singer and volleyball player that she once was....:)