Life of a Skater Mom

I have always been proud to say I’m not a Soccer Mom. I don’t know what made me uncomfortable with the title, as it would be good if any of my kids were team players, but unfortunately like their parents, they are not . They have all excelled in sports that were individually oriented. As a teen I was a Diver, and Ice Skater. Billy was a Cyclist and even rides a Unicycle.

We registered the kids in Soccer, and Baseball, Field Hockey, Volleyball, but they were just never good at it. With our youngest I registered him in PeeWee Soccer and he spent the entire time laying on the field looking up at the sky. Occasionally the ball would capture his attention, usually, when it was being kicked down the field by the one kid who really grasped the concept and strategy of the game. He would get up and run toward the ball and kick it.Unfortunately, his kick would usually be in the opposite direction that his team was heading for. This was hugely humiliating for me as a parent. None of the other kids were behaving like this, they seemed to have been born with the rules of the game engraved in their brains and were ready to play this game and prove themselves to be the future saviors of Pocomoke High’s Soccer Team. I

I was determined this child was going to be different and learn to be a team player. I would practice with him at home, explain the rules to him in 5 year old speak , and tortured the both of us week after week with going to the park putting him on the field after yet another stern warning about how he was to behave only to have immediatley throw himself down and roll across the field. At some point I gave up, and told him that was it.

Every spring, and every fall go by and his friend register in these games and he never mentions a desire to participate, and I breathe a sigh of relief.

But now; we have a Skate Board Park. The child is no sooner off of the school bus he is sitting down with his homework and getting it done as fast as he can so that we can go to the park so that he can skate.

It has been a very pleasant experience. I have taken my laptop with me and have been able to write. I have had pleasant conversations with the officer assigned to the park, and have met quite a few new faces here in town that I previously did not know.

It’s a different group, the Skate Kids they all seem to have an individualist streak in them, and I like it.

Yes, sometimes I think it would be great if he were a team player, but it’s just not in his genes. He certainly gets his individuality honest, and he is certainly comfortable in his skin.

So I will now proudly say I’m a Skater Mom.