Seriously!?! Apparently rain can do a lot of damage to young children, especially when playing soccer. Now we are not talking about thunder and lightening, just rain. So what would you do if it is an early summer night and your child is playing soccer and it rains?
- Pull your child off the field and go home or
- Insist they wear a rain jacket while playing or
- Nothing, let them have fun.
Well you would be surprised or maybe not at what some parents did last night when it rained.
Last night was London’s soccer night. Like many places across the country we are experiencing unusual number of grey days, cooler weather than normal, and plenty of precipitation. Yesterday morning we saw sunlight for the first time in what felt like ages and of course perfect weather for watching children’s soccer. Unfortunately though by dinner time it started to cloud over and become grey again but the weather forecast only called for < 1mm. Of course rain was not desired but a little rain was not going to deter us, so we packed up the lawn chairs, jackets, an umbrella, and the Wike with a rain cover for Reilly and off we headed to the fields for London’s 6.30 practice/game.
London plays in the 6 year old girl’s division but also in the same area are the 4 and 5 year old girls teams and nearby are the boy’s teams for the same age groups. A couple of years ago they introduced a new format whereby they practice for 45 minutes and then have a game against the other team for 15 minutes. I believe the 45 minute practice is too long and most of the boys teams have a gentlemen’s agreement between each other to do a 30/30 split. This year London’s coach is awesome so the practice time is high quality and fun to watch but I would much prefer a longer game time.
I can’t remember exactly when it started to really rain for it was spitting a little from the start but not enough you had to break out an umbrella but at some point it started to come down. Not a torrential down pour but enough that the girls were getting wet but they were quite warm from moving around. To my surprise though two players on the other team had put on rain jackets (rather the parent insisted they wear these jackets while playing). The last time I checked, children do not melt when it rains. But it gets better, with about 10 minutes left in the hour, my husband and I noticed that at least 4 girls teams around us had packed up and were heading out because of the rain. Again we are not talking about anything crazy here and there was no thunder or lightening, just some rain.
I was absolutely floored that the parents decided this was the best response to the rain, what kind of message is this sending to this younger generation? To me it sends the message that when you get a little uncomfortable it is okay to quit. How is this going to prepare kids for future demands and challenges?
Of course none of the boys teams left and played happily to the end. Despite a couple of rain jackets on the opposing team side, I was relieved that our collective teams didn’t even think twice about continuing to the end as well. By the time the game ended, the rain had stopped, the girls enjoyed some watermelon and even relished in the fact that they were all wet but had fun.
London playing Soccer last summer.
dreamabiglife 