Things that people don't tell you before you have a kid

[AtomicRob]

Your options are $75 for a crappy rec league or thousands for travel, per season.

I've been a rec league coach for several years... I prefer the vibe in the rec leagues compared to club leagues. It's slightly less competitive, but it's all about getting kids to love the sport and be part of a team, which is really the most important thing for them to learn. Most kids don't go on to become pros or even continue playing past high school. But they'll get some really important life lessons through sport.

 

[SonVolt]

The tournament leagues are very competitive, parents are not crazy but committed, parents are into it as much as the kids, you don't just drop your kid off to practice and games and come back later to pick them up, most parents are there for it all. One thing I don't like where I live, travel players are required to play on the rec teams, why I don't know, but you usually have 3 super stars carrying the team and the rest of the kids not getting any action. It's just dumb that they do that. It's really up to the coaches to play fair and not just focus on winning, you got good coaches and bad coaches.

The coaches are requiring the kids to find a rec league to play in? That's wild. My daughter's travel softball coach has a strict "no rec-league" policy b/c she (in her mind) feels the girls will be getting inferior coaching and pick up bad habits.

My son's coach, whose team is nationally ranked, doesn't care what the kids do - they're free to pick up with other teams, play rec league or join the circus.

I agree on the parents thing to, every parent is at practice and some of them are even stressed out during practice if their kids make errors on the field. I have to remind myself it's just a game from time to time, because it's easy to get sucked in and act a fool.

 

[jaallen]

I love my three boys (two by my wife brought in, her ex husband abandoned them and one is mine from a previous marriage) but if I could go back, No kids whatsoever. I don't really know why I didn't get snipped earlier on. Its a long, stupid story.
But, I did the right thing and brought mine up pretty well. Supported and never gave up. They all came out good kids. aged 20, 18 and 15. Raised them.

I hate kids with a passion now. Really. I don't know why.