THE STORY BEHIND THE BLOG

This blog started as a place for me to put a few stories I had written about a dad and his two kids and the "everyday adventures" they had together. But it has sort of evolved into a hodge podge of dad related thoughts, stories, songs, and other misc. things.

Thursday, January 5, 2012

Calvin and Hobbes and Baseball

My 9 year old son was reading from an old Calvin and Hobbes book tonight.  He really loves reading those.  After a while he brought it to me and told me to read a couple pages that he said "started out funny...but then get sad."  It was a series of comic strips about Calvin not being interested in sports but signing up for baseball so his friends wouldn't tease him anymore.

Needless to say, it does not go well for Calvin and leads to this panel:




This one hit a nerve with me.  A couple of summers ago, I signed Andrew up to play in a baseball league.  He really didn't enjoy it very much.  A few weeks into the season he broke his arm (in a non-baseball related incident) and was very much relieved because it meant he didn't have to play baseball anymore.  I really don't want to be "that parent" that makes his kids be into sports if they don't want to be into sports.  

I love the advice Hobbes has for him...Just please yourself.  I hope my kids are trying to please themselves and not me with the activities they choose.  
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1 comment:

  1. UnknownJanuary 5, 2012 at 10:04 PM

    Good point made...a lot of parents have their kids in sports for the parents' self-glorification. I have seen kids pulled aside when they made mistakes and either yelled at or hit. When I used to help coach my younger son's team, there was one parent that would actually stand on the 3rd baseline and make fun of his son (the parents had just divorced)! Needless to say, after we heard this, he was not allowed to stand within earshot of his son. Kids, as individuals with their own free will, should alway be allowed to pursue their own leisure activities.

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