I know I’ve talked about kids in sports before. I guess I’ve just been thinking about it lately because I’ve been finding myself at various athletic complexes and wondering when everyone has the time to commit to these activities with their kids if they work outside the home?

I’m not a competitive person but I do like to chat with other parents so I know what sports/activities their kids are in, exactly how many proper push-ups their kids can do and roughly how long they think they could do chin-ups on a high bar without cramping up. Roughly. Ball park.

I sometimes question the level of commitment I’m asking of my kids (and of our family) to swim three days/week. I justify it by defending the health and long-term benefits of being strong swimmers. Health and long term benefits of me driving them and sitting in the stands to watch have yet to be determined.

I also think if I’m at home all day, it’s not an inconvenience for me to drive them to these events and thirdly, there is only one practice during the week on a school night, the rest are meant to mess up my weekend. So as far as a sport for the kids, I like the schedule, I like the life-saving component and I really like the physical fitness.

But what is everyone else getting into?

I had a really nice chat with one of the parents at Chloe’s gymnastics this week. Her son plays both travel and house league hockey.

When I asked how that was possible, she told me that her son plays in a competitive league with older kids and the house league team is meant to give him more ice time and more practice. He is also taking speed skating lessons to make him that much faster and more sure of himself on the ice. Keep in mind we were having this conversation while at gymnastics.

Her son is five years old.

At first I thought, well if the kid is enjoying it, it’s not disrupting the family’s schedule and he’s keeping active in sports he loves, what’s the harm?

Why is being on the ice so many times/week giving me a reason to judge anyone? Would I think sitting at home watching t.v. rather than skating is a better way to spend his time? What if playing hockey is the one thing he jumps out of bed for in the morning?

On the flipside, are we over-scheduling our kids simply because everyone else is doing it and we don’t want our children to fall through the cracks and maybe not make the team or the starting line or wear the “C” on their jersey?

I wonder if we’re making it harder on the average kid to play in these leagues when it must be so intimidating to show up for the first practice when such a huge number of kids on the team who have already been playing for years, been practicing drills in their basements and on their driveways for hours prior to the actual practice, have been groomed since birth to be a star.

It almost seems that if your child is six years old or older and they haven’t yet started their personalized work-out regimen, they’ve missed their opportunity to shine in a sport.

Really, six years old?

I didn’t even start playing volleyball, a sport I absolutely loved until high school. I’m not sure I would have even made the team if the talent coming into the mix then had been exposed to the intense amount of training kids are today.

Oh and then there’s camp! Camps have clued into our obsession to groom our kids to be the next Tiger Woods so those summer months that used to be about down time, playing with friends, maybe going to camp for a leisurely hike and a canoe ride, now you can get really serious about your child’s sport by sending them to a specialized sports camp where they will eat, sleep and breathe the sport of your their choosing.

There’s really no down time in between seasons anymore. Now with “summer” hockey, kids play year round.

The winter season used to start sometime in late September but I think it starts now in late July. I find it comical to watch kids in tank-tops and shorts with skates slung over their shoulders heading into the cold rink.

It’s not just hockey either.

I know kids who are seven and eight years old playing competitive basketball three or four days/week or piano or even swimming three days/week…and they live in my house.

But remember I justified it with all of my really sound reasons for swimming that often?

By the way, my kids are probably able to do two proper push-ups. Put me down for a half.

Roughly.

Ball park.

Not consecutively.