Lessons from a Control Freak

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Last month my four year old little bear begged and pleaded to be able to play on a basketball team.  I was hesitant to sign him up for any organized sports.  Four just seems too young and I figured he would go to one or two classes and then totally loose interest.  He was so persistent though, I just could not say no.  SO I found a nice little 4 week “camp” run by the rec center here in my town.  It was supposed to be a small class with only 3-4 year olds.  There was a different class at the same time for 5-6 year olds, but the class descriptions made them sound like two separate classes.

Turns out, that the class really is one giant class, with 20 or so 3-6 year olds running around, and one poor high school senior doing her best to corral them all.  Sometimes she has helpers, but mostly it is just her.  Each class has been a very long hour of me sitting there trying to not jump up and interfere.  I mean really, even when she had 2 helpers; 3 teens are no match for 20 kids in a gym.  Plus given the age ranges, it is almost impossible to get them all to do the same thing… let alone learn concepts like rebounding and playing defense!  I mean really, rebounding?  Even the 6 year olds had no interest in that. 

The whole time I sit there and think, “Why don’t they ask for the parents to help?”  “Oh yeah, that is so not going to work with this age group!”   “Does she really think they are listening at all?”  ; on the flip side I am yelling at my little bear “Pay attention, your coach is talking”, “Stop throwing your ball and listen”, “Stop hitting each other with your balls!” 

It is 60 minutes of pandemonium! 

Part of me knows that they are kids and this is what kids should behave like.  The other part though wants to be able to control everything and have order.  It’s a constant struggle in my brain to either be a control freak, or to be the calm cool mom who just laughs, deals, and does not pass her neurotic tendencies on to her offspring! 

Never did I imagine being a mom was going to be such a challenge to my inner control freak.  The good news is that I am slowly learning to let go of the control.  I have begun to take joy in watching my son learn, even if it is not the way I would go about doing it or teaching it.  The important thing is his smile and his joy.  If he can find joy in pandemonium, then so can his crazy old mom!