Life Lessons Learned the Hard Way
I have never thought that parenting was easy - not ever. Each stage that you and your child go through together has it's challenges, but also it's own specific rewards. I have to admit that I thought that the toughest years were behind us with the boys now being 10 and 12 years old - but no ! I think by living overseas and managing additional cultural differences adds another layer of complexity and isolation when dealing with parenting stages. This weekend raised a few different challenges for both Jack and I - and I am happy to say that we came out the other side in a better place.
We have just had a long weekend in Shanghai for Jack to play in his final baseball tournament with his team here in Hong Kong. The season has ended and he is unlikely to get the chance to play any baseball while living in India, and by the time we get back to Australia, who knows if baseball will still be the number one thing on his mind. We agreed many months ago that if the opportunity arose to travel again with the team, that we would all go and make a weekend of it. Jack was super excited about this trip and had probably put too much pressure on himself and had high expectations of himself. He hurt his finger 10 days before going, so was unsure how that would hold up too.
During the first game of the weekend, the pressure, anxiety, emotion and possibly a few nerves got to him and he 'lost the plot' and the game did not end well. It continued after the game with his bad actions towards his brother and his inability to understand the impact of his actions. Anyway, a quite public dressing down and a long talk that night and lots of soul searching led to tears and then hugs, more tears and more hugs. A sleepless night for me (not Jack) and we all woke to a different day and a different attitude.
He really did pull himself together and was the epitome of team spirit. He cheered, he supported everyone, he did the hard yards and was rewarded by his coach with more game time and great feedback. He played very well and I couldn't have ended the weekend a prouder mum. It was a tough tournament for all the kids but they all had huge smiles on their faces and have a great team bonding experience. I just wish that our kids could take some advice from 'us oldies' and not learn every life lesson the hard way. I am sure my parents said the same thing to me........ Jack now understands that frustration and anxiety does not need to take over his actions.
Some photos below of the Shanghai Slam - Jack batted, pitched and was also catcher for a game x
We have just had a long weekend in Shanghai for Jack to play in his final baseball tournament with his team here in Hong Kong. The season has ended and he is unlikely to get the chance to play any baseball while living in India, and by the time we get back to Australia, who knows if baseball will still be the number one thing on his mind. We agreed many months ago that if the opportunity arose to travel again with the team, that we would all go and make a weekend of it. Jack was super excited about this trip and had probably put too much pressure on himself and had high expectations of himself. He hurt his finger 10 days before going, so was unsure how that would hold up too.
During the first game of the weekend, the pressure, anxiety, emotion and possibly a few nerves got to him and he 'lost the plot' and the game did not end well. It continued after the game with his bad actions towards his brother and his inability to understand the impact of his actions. Anyway, a quite public dressing down and a long talk that night and lots of soul searching led to tears and then hugs, more tears and more hugs. A sleepless night for me (not Jack) and we all woke to a different day and a different attitude.
He really did pull himself together and was the epitome of team spirit. He cheered, he supported everyone, he did the hard yards and was rewarded by his coach with more game time and great feedback. He played very well and I couldn't have ended the weekend a prouder mum. It was a tough tournament for all the kids but they all had huge smiles on their faces and have a great team bonding experience. I just wish that our kids could take some advice from 'us oldies' and not learn every life lesson the hard way. I am sure my parents said the same thing to me........ Jack now understands that frustration and anxiety does not need to take over his actions.
Some photos below of the Shanghai Slam - Jack batted, pitched and was also catcher for a game x
Comments
Post a Comment