more crazy

except this is real world crazy. in the midst of a family "meeting" today, we discovered something sad. the coaches of the 13-15 y.o. boys basketball team here on post have been cursing around the kids. the claim is that it only happened the very last time they had practice. but i have a hard time believing that. so we have our eyes out for this week.

this hurts my heart. i am familiar with some of the boys on the team & they aren't the type of children i'd really like my kid to be associating with by choice. we're limited to sports teams around here so i've sucked it up for basketball season. it doesn't last forever. but before the season/practice even started, i talked to biggest about some of the influences he would be facing by playing with these boys. and that he needed to be sure that those influences didn't find their way into his heart & mind.

i know at this age it is SO hard to use discernment while with peers. some kids don't have any issue holding their own in their own space while others are more subject to being tainted by undue influence. some kids are trying so hard to fit in that their common sense goes completely out the window when it comes to proper decision making skills while with their peer group. it's a hard fact of life. i'm trying very hard to stay out of this process with biggest & middlest so that they can learn the process on their own. sometimes it's hard to keep my mouth shut. it's a learning process for us all.

it REALLY ticks me off that someone who has been tasked...actually, VOLUNTEERED for the job...is not using their adult sense when interacting with these children. these sports are meant to build skills & confidence in these children so that when they play on a less recreational team, they will have a place on that team rather than bench warmer. these skills are meant to be taught in a reasonable environment. i don't consider cursing at players to be a reasonable environment.

granted, 1 and i aren't perfect angels when it comes to keeping our words consistently civil. but i have NEVER until last night heard biggest use anything near a curse word. he's been playing ball with this group for 3 weeks. it leads me to believe that this new found vocabulary wasn't picked up around here. he confirmed that when he told us that most of the players on his team use those words on a regular basis. which is to be expected, i suppose. most of them live on an army post where the soldiers don't know to watch their mouths-i've been witness to that myself. but i don't live on an army post & neither does biggest. i'd appreciate it if the adults responsible for my child several times a week would watch their mouths during their interactions. we're keeping an eye on the situation for the next week. if it doesn't improve, it will go higher up. if it still doesn't improve, i'm gonna have a little talk with the coaches. i'm sure it will embarrass the pieces out of biggest. eventually he will get over it.

he tells us that no one else really cares about the potty mouths on the court. i refuse to be the parent that doesn't care. i can't control everything but you can believe that i am going to work to take care of the things that need to be controlled. i'm learning how to choose my battles. i think this is one worth fighting.