How have youth sports affected your family?

Way back when, when my kids were younger, from the time they were 4 until they were in high school, our lives were pretty much ruled by their sports. My sons are 2.5 years apart so they RARELY were on the same team, but it did sometimes happen. They played Baseball (spring and some summers), Soccer (fall) and Basketball (winter) evey year. My oldest stopped playing everything but Baseball when he was about 12 or so, but my youngest played everything until he was 16 or so - then he started coaching Basketball. We had practice and/or games almost every night, all day Saturday and even some Sundays. I worked full-time and was a single mom so, needless to say, I never stopped running. It was impossible to plan something in advance because we always had a game/practice to go to. Now, don't get me wrong, I LOVED IT! It was just very hectic and I can remember thinking - When will this end??? Now, my boys are 24 and 21 (he's in Japan in the Navy) and I SOOOO miss those days!!!!! I made some really good friends - only a handfull I still keep in touch with though - had some really good times (and some bad ones...) but I will cherish those memories always! One of the people I have kept closest touch with now has a 6 year old granddaughter and she's cheerleading. I missed her T-ball season last spring, but I surely don't want to miss any more of her cheerleading!!! Spend as much time with them now as you can, you'll never get these days back!

My dad always watched sports when I grew up, well when my brother and I grew up, and now it's kind of the bond my brother and I have. We go to sporting events with each other and we have so much fun. We love watching at home together too. So I'm glad that my dad raised us watching them. Of course we played them growing up too, but my brother and I will always have that bond of watching our sports teams together.

So long as the kids are still enjoying it and they are able to keep their grades up, I think that youth sports are a great thing. They teach kids things such as teamwork, discipline, and working with others towards a common goal. This isn't even to mention the health benefits that come from an active lifestyle. My son is in youth football (he can't wait until he turns 10 and can play "real" (tackle) football instead of flag football) and I can understand where you're coming from. It can become a bit of a grind after a while. I just try to keep two things in mind: 1)He's only going to be a kid for so long. Eventually, he won't need me to take him to practice and I'll probably miss doing it when that happens. and 2) I'd much rather him be outside playing and excercizing his body and his mind than sitting in his room, playing Madden on the X-box. lol