We signed Carter up for machine-pitch baseball.
He was really excited about it
and
couldn't wait for it to start.
He had quite a few practices before they
started playing the games.
We went to the first game,
really excited to see him play.
He was so excited that he stopped
to pose for a picture.
He got a good hit,
making it to first base no problem.
But the kid hitting after him struck out,
making that 3 outs and the A's were back outfield.
Carter was so mad!
He moped back into the dugout, got his glove
and went out to play first base.
When the other team hit the ball and
the kids on Carter's team couldn't catch it,
Carter would slam his fist in his glove and
yell at the top of his lungs
"OH, COME ON!!!"
I didn't think anything of it,
but the rest of the first game went
with Carter yelling and throwing his
glove down at the ground as hard as he could.
Then he would throw his hat down at the ground
as hard as he could, yelling all disgusted.
He was there to play baseball, and it wasn't going as he pictured it would.
So on the way home,
Jason and I talked to him about
how much fun baseball is
and how we don't need to be out there yelling
and throwing things.
And if he wasn't going to have fun, then we weren't going to let him play.
Enough said, right?
Well game 2 comes around and here we go again.
He struck out and threw his bat as hard as he could.
Then...
he is in the short stop position and going crazy.
Every one noticed.
The one coach said,
"I find it refreshing that someone is taking
this seriously and he's not just here to goof off."
Well, that didn't make me feel better.
After a couple other parents
jokingly made comments to us,
I told Jason he needed to do something.
So when they came back to the dugout to bat,
Jason lovingly took him by the hand
and steered him over to the car.
They had a nice chat and Carter came back
calmed down and ready to have fun.
He had a couple issues after that where he
punched his glove and was starting to blow some steam,
but then he looked over at me
and I whipped my finger out and pointed at him
and gave him my serious eyes.
After doing that a couple of times, he seemed to relax more.
***
After that game,
we had a good chat.
Carter isn't the type of kid that wants
a lot of attention from other adults.
He gets shy in front of a crowd,
so I explained to him how much attention
he was getting and how all of the parents
said stuff to me about it and how it made me embarrassed.
He seemed to get it after that and we haven't had any problems since.
***
They did win the next game 18-2.
Every kid got at least one hit
and every kid scored a run.
Carter had a really great game
instead of throwing things down on the ground,
he was throwing his hands in the air.
After this game, his coach sent around an
e-mail to everyone and listed all of the good
things each kid did.
By Carter's name he wrote:
" Mr. Barry Bonds-way to bring the boys home!"
***
Baseball season isn't quite over yet,
but things have gotten better.
This has been a good learning experience for me.
When we talked to him the first time in the car,
I thought that would take care of the problem.
When it didn't I really had to think
of how I could explain it to him to make him
understand from my perspective
why his behavior wasn't acceptable.
It made me realize that my little
lectures need to be more thought out
and not just
"You shouldn't act like that because I said so."
Hopefully I can remember this lesson for the future!
