Soapbox

Gotta get on my soapbox for a minute...just because my kids don't play team sports right now, at the ages of 5 and almost 4, doesn't mean they will never amount to anything. Just because we don't want to get our kids up at the crack of dawn on Saturdays, spend 4 out of 7 nights a week at a ballpark, and spend every extra dollar we have on uniforms, hats, gloves, etc., doesn't mean that we don't care about our children. Honestly, I think it's quite the contrary. I think we love our kids that much MORE because we enjoy our family nights at home, in our own backyard, playing ball with each other, sitting by the firepit and having dinner together every single night.
Dennis and I make these decisions together...we took a Parenting class at church from the Preschool Pastor and he lead us through a Dr. Kevin Leman series. He was very adamant about keeping your kids home with you for as long as possible. I learned so much from that and I plan to stick to it. He said that its highly unlikely that years from now, your kid will come back and say "MAN, I sure wish ya'll wouldn't have let me stay home and play in my own backyard for all those years! I sure wish ya'll would've just stuck me on a team and taken me to the ballfield"!
Does that mean that we're never going to let our kids do organized sports? NO!
It just means that for RIGHT NOW, we are going to keep our kiddos at home with us, and let them enjoy being a kid! They have years and years ahead of them for playing sports!
Dennis played high school football, baseball, and basketball! He also played college football. Oh, and did I mention that he won state championships in football and baseball? Wanna know when he started playing? In middle school!!!! Not when he was 4 years old!!!!!! You won't find another man out there who loves sports as much as him! I'm pretty sure that if God can make a blind man see and if He can turn water into wine, He can also bless my children with athletic ability IF He chooses to do so WHETHER they start playing this young OR NOT!
The chances that your child is going to make it to the NBA, NFL, or MLB are pretty slim. But, keep on believing! If it makes you feel better to start your child early in sports, go for it! I'm not going to judge you, so please don't judge me and my decisions as a parent.
We have lots of friends/family whose kids play sports and have for a while. I think that's perfectly fine! I'm not against it AT ALL. We just have chosen this path for OUR children at this time.
This time in my kids' lives is going to go by in the blink of an eye and I truly believe that I will never regret spending this time with them at home. I know one day, very soon, we will all be running in a thousand different directions every night of the week, so I'm going to soak up this time as long as I possibly can.
So, for now, instead of yelling "Go Blujays" or "Go Redbirds" or "Go Bucs", we yell out a big "GO TEAM PHILLIPS" and that's fine with us for now.