It’s August. Which means this is the month that my kids all go back to school. Which also means it is time to sign up for fall sports…if that is something you do in your house. You see, Shawn and I have never really believed in starting your kids in sports so early. Shawn actually had a full ride to William & Mary for football, and he never played until 4^th grade. But when you tell people around town that your kids don’t play rec sports at all, even though they are 5, 7 and 9, they look at you like you have 3 heads. “What do you do on the weekends?” “They do whatever we do.” It’s almost impossible to grasp.

It’s not as if they have never done any sports. We did have each of them take the ‘too cute to not sign them up for’ YMCA soccer program when they were about 3. And part of this is likely because my oldest is a rising 4 grade girl, who despite my broken softball heart, has zero interest in sports. Her gifts come in the form of music and writing. She loves to sing, play piano, write lyrics and books. She is showing some signs of being a runner, but we will see where that leads.

There is no doubt my two little boys will play sports. They are obsessed with almost every sport imaginable, but when we tried to have them play something, it was a freaking disaster. When my middle child was 4 a few springs ago, we signed him up for T-ball. Now, we had heard from all of the parents who had gone before us that t-ball is torture. We learned the hard way. He almost never hit the ball, and when he finally did, he ran to the pitcher’s mound. I thought my husband was going to stroke out. They stuck him in the outfield and when the innings changed and his whole team was in their dugout, guess who was still in the outfield thinking about God knows what? My kid. After two more games we told him his “season was over” and decided to wait a while before attempting that again.

My 3^rd kid is another story. Maybe this is just a 3^rd kid thing but he is the most independent, don’t even look at him like you might offer to help, kid ever. He would probably sleep outside if you let him, he never comes in. He already looks like a linebacker and he’s going into Kindergarten this year.

So this year I am faced with the dilemma, is now the time to sign them up? Are they still on the young side? Am I risking them being star athletes because they aren’t involved? Or if I am being super honest with myself, do I dread the logistical nightmare of all 3 going in different directions? We live out in the country…carpool isn’t an option for us. And what about weekends? MY weekends. The ones where we randomly decide to take off in our RV, or go to the farmers market for several hours on a Saturday? (We have never actually done that. But you, know, we totally could). Am I starting a 12 year cycle of scheduling torture? I don’t know if I am ready to commit. AGH! Am I just the most selfish mom ever?

I would LOVE to hear from parents who are in the thick of this season of life, and those who have already gone before us with grown kids. What’s your advice? When did you start? How did your life change? Remember my last post when I already confessed that I am hanging on by a working motherhood thread? Because I know once I open this can of worms, there is no going back.