I'm Not A Soccer Mom
Thursday, March 31, 2011 at 11:00AM
This is a sponsored post from BlogHer and GATORADE.
I am not a soccer mom.
Okay, well technically I am a soccer mom because Faith plays soccer 2-3 seasons a year. But there is more to me than just "soccer mom." I have much more depth than that.
I am also a dressage mom, volleyball mom, Tae Kwon Do mom, wrestling mom and (gulp) stage mom for dance.
I am not just a soccer mom. I am a Sports Mom!
How did a complete non-athlete end up at the sidelines of so many sporting events a year? To this day I am not a sports enthusiast. If my kid isn't in the game/tournament/event, I don't watch.
But I am an enthusiast of my children and whatever it is they are doing which is why I've also sat through baseball games, swimming and track meets and an ill-fated season of touch football.
I love watching my kids explore their interests, find their talents and pursue their passions. So we schedule our lives around practices and plan vacations around games. We put big time mileage on the cars driving around town to different fields and arenas and venues.
I wouldn't have it any other way.
In today's world, signing up for teams and paying fees and buying equipment and driving, driving, driving are just part of the parenting gig.
In this day and age if your kids want to play, you have to schedule it. If they want to learn skills and become competitive you're going to sit on your share of sidelines. I don't know any parents of kids older than six who haven't done their share of cheering.
Sometimes, like Hayden playing touch football, it's a short term obligation. But if you have a kid who finds a sport they truly enjoy and are possibly good at, what are you going to do? Tell them "no you can't play with all your friends and get exercise"?
Obviously not.
Like all thing worth doing, there is a level of commitment involved, but I also strive for balance. Balance with family time, school work and relaxation. I'm on the "low maintenance" end of sports parenting. For other families, attending games and out of town tournaments is the way to relax and spend time as a family.
What I love about the new site Gatorade has put together for Sports Moms is that it's for all of us who sit on the sidelines cheering our kids on.
Gatorade surveyed 900 moms across the U.S. "to identify their perceived roles, challenges, motivations and rewards, as it relates to their children’s sports, and took a deeper dive to better understand the moms behind today’s young athletes."
Then they took that info and put together a site a site just for us: Gatorade Sports Moms. I've taken a look around the site and like what I see. There's a lot of good advice about nutrition and how I can best feed my young athletes before and after games to help make sure they are safe, healthy and performing their best. I think you'll also enjoy the videos of real Sports Moms doing their best to support their kids.
This month, to celebrate the launch of their new Sports Moms site, Gatorade is giving away a $100 Gift Card for Dick's Sporting Goods to an Our Front Door reader!
Entering is easy. Just leave me a comment telling me which sport you most like to sit on the sidelines for.
For an additional entry, check out the list below.
Rules:
No duplicate comments.
You may receive (2) total entries by selecting from the following entry
methods:
a) Leave a comment in response to the sweepstakes prompt on this post
b) Tweet about this promotion and leave the URL to that tweet in a comment
on this post
c) Blog about this promotion and leave the URL to that post in a comment on
this post
d) For those with no Twitter or blog, read the official rules to learn about
an alternate form of entry.
This giveaway is open to US Residents age 18 or older
Winners will be selected via random draw, and will be notified by e-mail.
You have 72 hours to get back to me, otherwise a new winner will be
selected.
The Official Rules are available here.
Sweepstakes runs from March 31st until April 30th 2011
Be sure to visit the BlogHer Round Up page for more info and additional chances to win!