Spring is aptly named for
this time of year because parents coil up in tension for graduations and
advancement ceremonies, sports finales like baseball playoffs, as well as dance
or music recitals. Even in scouts there's a mad dash to finish requirements for
rank advancement or merit badges – all of which pelts the calendar and wallet
like machine gun fire.
So as all these things come
to pass this week and next, and as everyone downshifts into summer, listen
carefully for a quiet sigh spreading across homes all over, signaling the start
of a welcome decompression. And it's well deserved, particularly for
mothers. They more commonly do the
bulk of family scheduling, navigating the complex matrix of times, dates and
places with all the skill of air traffic controllers – and the stress.
Along with most parents we
know, my wife and I make just about every game. We split shuttle duties to
practices and clinics and scout meetings. And to her credit, my wife has
performed just about every duty a room mom could ever be assigned. It's 110 percent all the way.
This level of involvement
seems much higher than when I was young. Moms and dads weren't helicopter
parents, hovering over every moment of their children's lives. Now, Dad was a
chief for my Indian Guide group – which is loosely like a den leader for
cub scouts. Still, the meetings were at our house and maybe once a month.
That's in contrast to Cub Scouts, which consists of at least two den meetings
and a pack meeting each month.
While Dad and I did play
catch once in awhile, he never coached any of my teams. As for attending games,
well, my folks made fewer rather than more. But that was just the times –
when kid activities were simply that, kid activities.
Today it really is a whole
culture and social strata wrapped around what your kids do after school, which
is not all bad. Some of our closest friendships have been founded and forged
through scouting, baseball, and other extracurricular activities. It's the same
with our sons. All these things expand their circles of friends and
experiences.
Okay, there was a great
source of pride and joy last week, watching my middle son on the pitcher's
mound, pulling his team out of a tricky inning during a semi-final playoff game
– maybe even a vicarious thrill.
It's all a kick in the
pants, which is the downside to winding down in the summer. One misses the
camaraderie and excitement, at least until that first lazy Saturday without a
game, affording time to sleep-in or get back to abandoned project around the
house. Then there's the other downside when you hear, "I'm bored..."
Copyright 2009 by David Falloure
