Originally Posted By: hammerhead
Originally Posted By: ikillbux

I played youth sports. My daughters were/are cheerleaders. I don't think my wife nor I ever missed a game. But that's all WE ever did. WE did not go to every practice. We did not enroll them in cheer/gym classes to which we had to take them constantly. THEY were cheerleaders, not us.



I also played youth sports and my dad wasn't able to attend many of my games due to working shift work. I now know how it made him feel when he would miss a game...I hate missing out on anything my girls do.

My 8th grade daughter is a high school softball player (JV and was just asked to play with the varsity in some upcoming tournaments), volleyball player, basketball player, scholar's bowl participant, SGA president, PSAT (Principal-Student Advisory Team) member, President of the NJHS, has won or placed in the top 3 in the county wide spelling bee since she was in 4th grade, was 2nd in the county wide speech contest last year, and puts in numerous volunteer hours. My 8 year old is just now getting into playing sports, but previously took gymnastics, tap, ballet, and acrobats. I worked shift work since before my oldest was born and missed out on a LOT of her activities. I am now working 4 days a week and attend everything I am able to attend. Do I miss out on doing stuff I want to do? Absolutely, and I wouldn't trade it for the world. You only have so much time with your kids before they are grown.


I know what you're saying HH, you and I agree completely on all that. I've been fortunate, my girls are 19 and 16, and I've had the ability to create my own schedule for the last 15 years. So managing my time was never a problem for me...I could choose to spend time with them, and still have freedom to hunt or fish during the week. I totally understand and emphathize with parents who only have limited time to be a parent. And perhaps my flexibility skews my perspective about some of this stuff. But the over-the-top committment to youth baseball greatly surpasses the simple explanation of "I'm just spending time with my kids". I'm just supremely perplexed by the difference in today vs when we were kids. My dad was never a coach. He nor my mom ever came to a practice (except for maybe a few when I was very young, but I don't really remember that, I'm just giving the benefit of the doubt). I don't really remember if they were at every baseball game, but I think they made most of the football games. I don't ever remember feeling, or even having a thought, that my parents were absent?? They were awesome, still are. My dad worked a full time job, and we still hunted or fished more Saturdays/Sundays than not. This is NOT about parenting choices. I'm trying to understand when and why youth baseball became daily and year-round, and so many dads are coaches, and so many parents are grossly consumed with it. What changed and why? Did parents make a push for this, or did it just happen and parents follow along? This page is called ALDEER, it's about hunting, or just the outdoor lifestyle in general. Yet I repeatedly read posts on here where people say "I gave up hunting when my kids were in sports". Why??? What is different today than when we were young???...my dad didn't have to give up hunting because I played ball. We both hunted, a lot!

We were on the edge of Eternia, when the power of Greyskull began to take hold.