What I Learned During My First Week of Being a Rookie Baseball Mom…
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Our newest family adventure: Little League Baseball. You’ll find me in a sunny spot in my pink canvas chair at the baseball field for the next million weeks. Being 1/3 of the team, means we better do this baseball thing right the first time around. =)
We played soccer last year, but wanted to give the boys a “swing” at baseball this year, and I think it’s actually going to be fun for us all. Our coaches are super encouraging and not overly intense, the boys are loving it so far, and they were 16/16 at bat their first game. {Four times up to the plate each and no outs!}
I’ve learned a handful of things already in my first week as a baseball mom…I’m sure there’s much more to be learned!
10 Lessons Learned as a Baseball Rookie Mom:
1. There is a correct temperature for thermos water. “Mom, just so you know, you got the water a little too cold.” -Henry Kid, I’m just glad I remembered to bring you water…and your hats, gloves, and the kitchen sink.
2. Baseball pants run big – as noted in the above picture. Use those belts for all their worth.
3. 70 degrees and sunny is the perfect introduction to a baseball game. Every cold, rainy, windy or sweaty game to follow will never measure up.
4. Kids really do care about having someone there to cheer them on. “Mom, did you know Emma’s coming?” “Mom, Emma said her mom said she could come.” “I can’t wait until Emma sees us play our game.” {Perhaps it has something to do with Emma from their class being cute as a button and sweet too?}
5. Fun trumps perfection 1,000 to 1. Takeaways and improvements are great, but if you’re so focused on performance, it’s going to drag everyone down.
6. When there’s five long hours to wait between team pictures and the highly anticipated first game, a Star Wars viewing party may be necessary.
7. Goodwill has a great collection of baseball gloves in perfect condition. I don’t think anyone is going to stop and ask if their glove is used or new.
8. Whatever team name your kids are given, becomes their absolute favorite team. It creates an immediate loyalty and enthusiasm for that character/animal/team name, even if they’ve never watched the real team play in their lives.
9. Baseball is rarely boring when you have 4 kids in the lineup or on the field. It takes me 1/2 the inning just to find them all, and try not to miss anything.
10. You can make a huge impact from the stands. Your words of encouragement, cheers, and thumbs up make their world go round.
Feel free to teach this Rookie Baseball Mom a thing or two in the comments!
We had our first shot @ t-ball w/ Sawyer this past weekend too. Luckily she liked her team color b/c if it wasn’t a color she liked, she wasn’t playing. 😉
Can’t wait until we get to be there for a game. Just seeing their photos in the uniforms and watching the video was a thrill for me.
I’m a soccer player myself, so of course I loved when they played soccer last year, but I enjoy watching baseball as well. I just came home from one of those cold, rainy games watching our church team play, but at least they won! I’m a substitute teacher and one of my students today was going to after school and then right to a baseball game, but he realized he forgot his belt and needed to call home. One of the other kids was like “You need a belt for baseball?” lol And the other year a guy on our church softball team stopped to get one on the way to the game and realized when he went to that he had gotten a youth sized one! haha Anyway, the boys look great in their uniforms and Henry has my number! 🙂 I don’t think I can offer you any advice as I’m not a mom myself, unless you want to learn how to keep the scorebook. lol
I raised 3 boys, and all I can say is that this first year is the most fun you’ll ever have playing baseball! After that it gets too serious, and every play/win/loss counts. It hurts a mamma’s heart when her boy’s the one who strikes out, or drops the ball and he comes away discouraged, but when they’re little everybody loves everything. They love to play, they’re all learning, and it’s all good. I’m so glad you have encouraging coaches–that’s the key.
Oh, and by the way–you can wash those hats in the top rack of your dishwasher.
I love these rules! My daughter has cheered since she was 4 but just picked up soccer this season. Some parents are already so intense (she is now 8). I also have twin boys that will be 3 in July and I can’t wait to watch them on the soccer and/or baseball field, so sweet!
And PS, holy shout out to being a quad mama! I am just home with the twins during the day and some days it seems like I do nothing but cry because it’s.so.hard. Your boys are seriously adorable btw!!
They are adorable! Great work mom!!!
If you haven’t seen this yet, you need to. It should be hanging at all Little League fields. (it is hanging on the concession stand wall at ours)
Just A Boy
He stands at the plate with his heart beating fast, the bases are loaded, the die has been cast. Mom and Dad cannot help him now, he stands all alone, a hit at this moment would send his team home. The ball meets the plate, he swings and he misses. Theres a groan from the crowd, along with some boos and some hisses, and a thoughtless voice cries “strike the bum out”! Tears fill his eyes, the game is no longer fun. So open your heart and give him a break, for its moments like this, a man you could make. Please keep this in mind when you hear someone forget, he IS still a boy and NOT a man yet!