The problem with young children’s activities is sometimes they have fun. It is great for kids to play together and enjoy each other’s company, but it is an entirely different thing when they end up going nuts and not paying attention to anything an adult says. Thus was soccer practice last night. The children were completely nuts.
Part of it is they seem to like each other. In no other team sport that my kids have done have I seen them become fast friends with so many of their teammates. Normally this would be a good thing, but for six year-olds it is a distraction. They are distracted by friendship. It also doesn’t help that practice is ten feet from a playground.
At some point you’d think the kids would want to get better and understand that listening to their coach is the way to do so, but no they are far more interested in playing. It isn’t bad to make new friends or to have friends outside of school, but it is something else watching them try and do their own thing and completely ignore everything else.
Every instruction last night was lost in the ruckus of six year-old excitement, and to some extent whining. Roland decided that he was too hot during practice and I told him if he was going to do sports he was going to sweat. None of that mattered to him and he would rather complain then practice and get better. He wasn’t the only one whose short attention span got the better or, but he is one of mine and I’d rather my children display hard work and integrity than whining.
The thing is they have gotten better. Through all the ignoring instruction and doing their own thing they have improved. They are better soccer players than when they started. They still aren’t great or even good, but they are moving in the right direction. Only at a slower pace than they should because they’re easily distracted.
At the end of the day I shouldn’t complain about the kids making new friends, but we didn’t pay for them to make friends. We paid for them to learn soccer. Now we must teach them to leave it all on the field, play through the whistle, and attack the ball with extreme aggression.
David Huzzard Writes 