Soccer mom

I have become one. I didn't mean to and it's really Tom's fault. He wanted to sign Tobey up for the Kidz Love Soccer class and he was the one to take Tobey each week. But the first class landed on a weekend that Tom was away and so I became the soccer mom.

But it's not just taking my kid to soccer class that made me a soccer mom. It was that I was late so I was driving semi-frantically looking for a place to park near the field. Plus I was in a minivan. Plus Tom happened to call me while I was driving so I was also on my cell phone. It was crazy. It was stereotypical. It was pretty bad.

My transformation continued when we arrived on the field and class was already in progress. The already enthusiastic kids were happily responding to Coach Scott and following him around the field. Tobey, already the observe-first type, was standing and watching as I tried to garner some excitement from him about what the coach was doing. Tap the inside of your foot, soccer sandwich, make a duck tail, no hands coach? No response from Tobey.

So, one of the coach's suggestions (that I learned by staying and eavesdropping on the next class) was to not force the kid to play if he's really shy -- the more we push, the less fun it will be for them and the less THEY want to play vs. MOMMY wants me to play. I pushed a little (not having heard the pep talk at the time) because it looked fun but mostly because I didn't want all the rushing we did to get to class to be for nothing, which admittedly was my fault to begin with.

Luckily I had to go check on Eli, whom I had abandoned in the stroller when we arrived, so Tobey was forced to be on his own and found a companion in Coach Joseph, the assistant coach. He held the coach's hand as they ran around the field with their soccer balls. And when class was done, he gave high 5's to Coach Joseph and Coach Scott. And at least this time, Tobey said he had fun.

Coach Scott gave some other parent guidelines so that we don't turn into the stereotype soccer parent. We can cheer but not coach from the sideline. Encourage but don't push. Come prepared (and some kids were in full soccer gear including cleats!). I'm curious how Tobey will do in the class but I'm not sure if I can go again. I've gotten over the stigma of having a minivan but I haven't yet come to grips on being a soccer mom. It wasn't supposed to happen this way!