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Duncan as 5 month old Soccer Cheerleader
On Not Being an Athletically-Interested or Able Family:
Today I took dear Duncan to his second day of soccer camp. He is five years old and this is his first opportunity to learn about soccer. Poor Duncan is doubly deprived. Not only did he inherit a complete lack of athletic ability from his mother, he has grown up in a home that shows no interest in athletics thanks to his father. This is a deadly duo.
It doesn’t bother me if Duncan continues to be spectacularly unathletic. What I worry about is that he will be unhappy as he gets older because so much of what children do together revolves around athletics. It will be hard for him to fit in.
Hence we were at the soccer fields for camp at 8 am this morning. Because a) we were a bit late, b) he is a bit shy, and c) he didn’t have a great time on Monday, I had to drag him out to join the kids on the field. I hope I did the right thing. I wasn’t sure what to do. To show his displeasure, he walked limply through the obstacle course where the other children had just hurried.
It was then that I noticed that no one else’s shinguards were visible. Shinguards go inside the socks!–right. We won’t forget next time, but next time it will be something else. Oh dear Duncan, I love you so much! I would make this easy for you if I could, but I don’t know how to give you what I never had myself.
I felt upset and quite concerned (not about the shinguards, but about my dear boy’s general predicament) for a couple of minutes. But I had Kate to attend to, and gear to juggle, and the groups switched coaches and moved to different places on the field. Soon I couldn’t see Duncan very well. Finally, it was time to go. I walked up to retrieve him; he was talking happily and animatedly with another boy. It was a blessed sight. We’ll get through this somehow.