Basketball Practice

It was my turn to take Micah to practice again on Tuesday (the GPS was in the vehicle, awaiting, this time - see December 12 post). At 7:00 I gave Micah warning. "We need to leave in 20 minutes, Micah. Change your clothes and get your dribbling report." Micah, who was busy stomping his dad at a game of tennis on the Wii, gave me a noncommittal grunt for an answer.

When the time rolled around and I was ready to leave, Micah could not find his dribbling report (the paper that states that he practiced dribbling every day). He became quite upset. "If I don't bring my dribbling report, the coach will make me run!"

I (being Mom) don't like this. I like to protect my children from, well, everything. However, I can see that this is one of those teachable moments that you read about in parenting books. We searched for a few minutes but then, after having no luck finding the report, I announce that we must leave or else we will be late.

Micah became even more upset. "I don't want to go to practice! I'm not going! I can't run because my leg still hurts!" (We went rollerskating a few days ago, thus the sore leg).

I was tempted to not make Micah experience any of this, but I insisted he go and face whatever punishment was ahead of him. I mentioned that maybe this would help him keep up with his report in the future. When Micah continued to complain about his leg, I suggested he could mention to the coach that it was sore but that he needed to let the coach decide what to do.

We get to practice and Micah makes a beeline for the coach. "I couldn't find my dribbling report, but my leg hurts because I went skating and fell down a lot," Micah blurted.

Micah's coach blinks confusedly at Micah. "I'm sorry. Tell me again, what does your leg have to do with your dribbling report?"

When the coach was finally up to speed on Micah's situation, he decided not to make Micah run, but did spend some time lecturing him on the principle of discipline.

With that over, Micah and I went to the sidelines where I asked him to take off his coat and jeans so he could start practicing. Micah said, "You want me to take off my jeans?!? But, Mommy, I don't have on anything underneath!"

Sigh. Was any lesson learned here? Perhaps it was a lesson for me. Turn off the Wii before giving directives.

P.S. He did stay and practice in his jeans. And he did look silly among the other boys in their basketball shorts and other gear. But he did very well. And was not too humble about it, either.