Thank you. I needed the perspective check. It's also one chance to hang out with a cool group of parents: D's team has three of his classmates on, as well as two kids who were on the same team for the past two years. One parent has already suggested bringing martinis to practices -- and we're definitely going to at least do coffee : >
This is an aspect of US culture I've never understood.
Would it be insulting for an ignorant European to ask 'why'?
The whole fixation with these sorts of childrens sports, from little league to cheerleading, seems such amazingly conformist brainwashing. But then I think I must be missing something...
Not insulting at all. And we don't generally go in for the whole team sports thing, except for Little League. (There are parents whose lives run from soccer season to basketball season to baseball season and back.) We also don't take Little League very seriously (unlike some parents I've seen over the years--I could tell some real horror stories): I don't think any of our teams has ever had a winning season and we don't care.
Basically, its a chance for kids to socialize outside of school (which given how many parents work, doesn't happen as much as it did when I was growing up), a chance for kids to learn to work as a team, and a chance to learn good sportsmanship. And also, baseball is a team sport: unfortunately, kids don't play sandlot baseball anymore, so Little League is their only opportunity to learn the game.
OK - that sounds a lot more sane that it sounded at first.
Any insight into why people do take this so seriously would be welcome.
I do wonder if playing team sport does actually help with childrens' development. At school I found most team sport was just an excuse for 'leaglized' bullying (but then I did go to a school which played rugby) and did very little to encourage sportsmanship...
That does sound trying. The only thing I found tolerable and even welcome about my season as a "soccer mom" a few years back was the garage sales. The team would practice and play on Saturday mornings in a neighborhood about 20 minutes drive from here (yes, that was the CLOSEST league to us--why do you think I refused to do it again?). It was September, and it happened to be a prime area for garage sales. Much of Allegra's baby clothing came from me driving around to those sales while I waited for V to be done with her practice. I was very sad when she decided she wanted me to stay and WATCH the games.
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Would it be insulting for an ignorant European to ask 'why'?
The whole fixation with these sorts of childrens sports, from little league to cheerleading, seems such amazingly conformist brainwashing. But then I think I must be missing something...
From:
no subject
Basically, its a chance for kids to socialize outside of school (which given how many parents work, doesn't happen as much as it did when I was growing up), a chance for kids to learn to work as a team, and a chance to learn good sportsmanship. And also, baseball is a team sport: unfortunately, kids don't play sandlot baseball anymore, so Little League is their only opportunity to learn the game.
From:
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Any insight into why people do take this so seriously would be welcome.
I do wonder if playing team sport does actually help with childrens' development. At school I found most team sport was just an excuse for 'leaglized' bullying (but then I did go to a school which played rugby) and did very little to encourage sportsmanship...
From:
no subject
That does sound trying. The only thing I found tolerable and even welcome about my season as a "soccer mom" a few years back was the garage sales. The team would practice and play on Saturday mornings in a neighborhood about 20 minutes drive from here (yes, that was the CLOSEST league to us--why do you think I refused to do it again?). It was September, and it happened to be a prime area for garage sales. Much of Allegra's baby clothing came from me driving around to those sales while I waited for V to be done with her practice. I was very sad when she decided she wanted me to stay and WATCH the games.