Baby Athletes!

Yuckyuckyuck.

I hate the whole culture of "build a better baby", whether it be sports or academics.

parents finally realized there's not much money in genius, lets get all tiger woods on these kids

It definitely can be, but the NYT article bothered me, seemed to be really stacking the deck.

I don't think there's anything inherently bad about these classes (Little Gym etc.), my kid went to some beginning gymnastics classes when she was 2 and 3 and LOVED them. It wasn't about some sort of dreams of making her a super-athlete (she hasn't done gymnastics since), it was about fun + a chance to burn off some energy for her and a break for me (when I really needed a break).

But I'm sure there are some parents who take the whole thing too far.

From the article:



I think this is true.

I also think what Soz says is true -- kids need to be active. We did a lot of that stuff when Mo was little. We went swimming almost every day. And we went to the park. And we went for walks.

It's when it starts getting too organized and there are rules beyond "play nice", and when there are uniforms, and coaches that things start bothering me.

When I was working I pissed and moaned about "stage moms" a lot. I thought there was something weird and different about them. Something awful.

Since then I've learned that there are all kinds of stage moms (and dads) like school stage parents and field stage parents. They're not a bit different from the ones that were much easier to pick on.

Yeah my kiddies went to gymboree - sort of to get them a chance to meet other kids and learn to wait in line crap like that. The idea of making them into a star athelete focused on one sport seems to be the trend. What if the kid decides he hates soccer when he is 10?

Yeah, that stuff sucks. I haven't run into a lot of it but the one soccer coach that I keep complaining about is like that. During the regular season with him and another coach (who was much, much better) the girls were undefeated. Now in this other league (many of the same girls, a few others), he's the only coach and they're not doing well and he keeps going on about how they need role models and they need to work harder on this and harder on that and ya know what, HE needs to lighten up! It was nice when they were winning but it's really not the end of the world if they're losing (and good for them to have some real competition instead of just smushing everyone they played against).

Edit: plus he wants them to keep going (in yet another indoor league, this one was brief), many of them have basketball starting, and I do worry about overuse injuries. I mostly want my kid to be fit, strong, and have fun, and if some sports skills emerge from that, coolness. I DON'T want to do that specialization thing (pick a sport at an early age, practice it incessantly) which I think is dangerous.

Yes - some push at a young age to "specialize" in one sport - pretty much play year round. I honestly don't even like it for my 12 year old, but she choose it and insists to play basketball all seasons. I think she is even better at softball, so I try to encourage her to at least play softball one season - she likes softball too, but she loves basketball.

The younger plays a different sport each season. My only rule is once you sign up, you need to finish the season so as not to let your team down.

I've found having two at different age groups, that the younger girl's games are much more fun. They play for the pure joy of the game. They do compete, but the game is not as intense. And most parents are much more relaxed cheering both teams. The older girl - it is waaay too stressful for me - I enjoy them but my heart rate does go up with the competition.

It means he's American.

One other item in regard to this - when I was in Texas for work recently. In talking to a co-worker that relocated, he told me about the fierce competition in atheletics for children. His daughters were good softball players and they did not make the school teams in Texas. He said they have 6 year olds already being trained to the extreme. They get up at 5am and run, lift weights, etc.

So maybe not baby athletes, but they do start them pretty young.

Yikes!!

A colleague of mine was cracking up recently.

She was filling out a form to take her 16 month old to some kind of gym program - the form asked for the name of the "athlete".

Then she took her daughter. She came back and told us that she couldn't believe how far behind her daughter already was in the gym program. She's concerned about how long it will take her to learn the routines and catch up

Oh, my.