Benefits of Being the Younger Brother

All our kids have played sports over the years and through all the soccer, basketball, baseball, volleyball, and football games our youngest son Kyron has been exposed to hours and hours of sports and activity, just waiting his turn. 

His turn finally came several weeks ago when he started soccer.  I blogged at that time about his first game, but we didn't realize how good he would do or how much he would like it.

The great thing about Kyron is that he seems to have fun doing whatever has his attention at the moment.  Every moment is full of smiles and it's no different each Saturday as he's playing soccer.  He's fun to watch because he clearly is just out there having fun.  When you're good at something it makes it easy to have fun, and Kyron is pretty good at soccer.  It helps that he's just bigger and faster than the other kids out there (that will change, he has my genes...) and he's been watching and playing with his older siblings for year, but for now, he's way better than other kids his age on the soccer field.  The other team hasn't scored all season when he is on the field and he hasn't had a game with fewer than six goals!

I think we'll spend the rest of the season focusing on passing and playing defense, but even his older brothers have to admit that #3 is a little superstar - at least in our house.

Kyron's Big Day

With four kids, weekends tend to always be busy with their activities. This past Saturday, however, everyone else's activities were put on hold and the day was about the youngest Kyron! We started the day with Kyron's much anticipated first soccer game! Like many little boys, all of ours have started their sporting adventures on the soccer field, so this is both the beginning of a new stage for Kyron and the end of another. He's been so excited to play though, that he's worn his shin guards and socks around the house for the past 3 weeks. Not surprisingly, when he took the field, he did pretty well and took advantage of all the backyard practice with the older siblings.

After soccer, we got ready for Kyron's birthday party.  He turns five today, but we had his party on Saturday. For his party, He had a special request for his birthday party, a scavenger hunt.  As we talked through what he wanted it became clear what he wanted was his own Amazing Race.  That got my creative juices flowing and I created The Birthday Race.  We divided the party into two teams, made "clues" for the teams to find, and had a series of challenges that led the kids around the neighborhood from houses, to the playground, to the creek and finally into the backyard for the finish line. Proving that we're a house full of reality television fans, after Kyron's "blue team" won the Birthday Race he announced "We won immunity!"  Okay, wrong show, but it was sure cute!

I look at Kyron and am amazed at how quickly the last 5 years have gone by and I also can't help but think back to how scared I was to have four children! I never imagined we'd have this big of a family, but Kyron brings so many unexpected moments of laughter to my life that I am so thankful God, as usual, worked His plan instead of mine and gave us Kyron.


Happy Birthday Bugs!

Kids and Sports

I have been a sports fan my entire life.  I have those teams that I am faithful to through thick and thin (Blazers, Cowboys, Yankees), and as a relatively recent transplant to the Indianapolis area I have come to really enjoy the local teams here as well.

Nothing compares to watching my own kids play though.  I may talk about how busy life is with kids playing sports all over town, but game days are typically my favorite days of the week.  Whether it’s Caeden making a great cross-over dribble, Caleb making a catch in the outfield, or Makela’s volleyball team winning a tournament, seeing my kids having fun and experiencing success on the court/field is awesome.  Even now, I am sitting watching Caleb in his basketball practice and have a stupid perma-grin on my face because I’m having so much fun.  I can’t help it!

At the same time, I am also concerned with the seriousness of sports at such a young age.  It’s great that we live in a community that has such great opportunities for kids, but it also concerns me that there may be a lot of pressure put on these kids.  Are travel teams too much?  Will they burn out and end up hating sports?  I am fearful of these things, but at the same time want to develop a healthy level of competitiveness which can serve them so well even beyond sports.

I just want to make sure I’m doing the right things for my kids for today and tomorrow.  The sports fan in me is thrilled with the kids’ involvement, but the parent in me can’t help but be slightly concerned.