I’m over at Larry Bernstein’s blog, Me, Myself, and Kids, today talking about the sidelines. I’ve been through many seasons of watching my kids play baseball, soccer, and basketball, and I’ve decided I really don’t like the other parents.
As a kid, I’m pretty sure it was one of the reasons I stopped playing. I knew it even then. In fourth grade, I played softball and I wasn’t very good. When the ball was hit to my patch of centerfield grass, I ran for it and threw it in. I threw it to whoever looked most eager to get it in her glove. Only my aim sucked. My eyes looked at her outstretched hand, but the ball went six feet to the left.
I used to sit in the dugout and pray my turn wouldn’t come up. Standing at the plate, I could hear the parents in the stands. Maybe they meant for me to. “Come on, hit the ball!” They weren’t using encouraging tones. They weren’t being helpful.
As a parent, I’ve sat on the sidelines through enough games and enough sports to know that I’m not cut out for this sort of thing. Even now as an adult, I hate hearing the other parents.
Visit Me, Myself, and Kids to read more and see what else I’ve encountered. Tomorrow, come back here and read about Larry’s experience with Little League, not only as a parent, but also as a coach.
Mom in the Muddle 
I caught your post over at Larry’s. Loved it. 🙂
Thanks, Carrie!
I love this post and I love your blog! I, too, share your feelings about sitting on the sidelines with others parents. But lately, I’ve been cringing about the coach. Why do sports do this to people? We try to teach our kids about good sportsmanship and then we watch adults acting like buffoons. Sigh….
I have learned to score and be involved in the running of the sport to remove myself from the parents on the sidelines as I am very saddenned at things that I hear. I wanted to have a way that I could still participate and understand my children’s sport so I didn’t make poor comments myself from lack of understanding.
My place scoring usually takes me away from the stands and from the other parents for all the reasons in your blog!
I never really thought about that before, mainly for fear that my ignorance of the sport would show. 😉 But that’s a good idea. Larry Bernstein and I swapped posts and his covers that. It appears on my site today.
Will take a look. My boys play water polo, something I had never played and barely understood. I learned to score and am now a referee as is my husband. We have met so many wonderful people all around Australia and the world, I have become quite specialized in my role and am quite sought after. Don’t let your lack of knowledge hold you back. It helps me to understand why my boys are so happy or equally frustrated. I feel at now 17 and 14 that we can communicate about the biggest thing in their lives because I stepped out of my comfort zone.
I wrote this article a few years ago explaining this
http://www.mumorablemoments.wordpress.com/2013/07/17/learning-my-sons-language-by-caroline-mcmahon-2/