We Are The Panthers

So the boys started soccer this year and Timmer is the coach. It has been a very challenging experience to say the least. All the boys on the team are wonderful and get along great and I also really like the parents. However, I am quite embarrassed at my boys behavior. Both of them are the biggest cry babies I have ever seen. They get so frustrated and break down and cry and tantrum. AJ has even quit (because he wasn't winning) and left practice and gone off by himself to the park. (He had to walk home as punishment for that one and will not being doing that again.) They are just so ultra competitive it is almost unbearable. Games have been a little more fun. AJ has been scoring about 3 goals a game so far and PJ has been a very good defender. I am just thinking that they might need a little more time for them to grow up so that they can handle these structured sports and competition. I don't think we will be doing t-ball in the spring. Maybe we need an individual sport like swimming.

Kindergarten

Sorry for the delay. Life ran away from me. Let's see all that has been happening.... My boys started kindergarten. It has been a little bit of a rough transition, especially for the P. So I thought I was quite clever in that I split the boys up into separate classes so that they could focus on their schoolwork without the distraction of their brother. This worked well for Adam, however, Mr. P got place in a class with kids with much stronger "personalities" than even his brother has. Basically, P has fallen in with the wrong crowd. Yes, this can happen in kindergarten. Consequently, I have been getting some sad e-mails from his teacher that he is an unkind child and displaying bully-like behavior. It has been very upsetting. It is especially distressing when you look up on line and they have all these horrible things to say about the parents of bullies. (There is very little constructive resources- mainly about the victims). Because bullying is taken so seriously nowadays, T and I stepped up to the plate to work hard with P on his behavior- lots of talking to and no treats, no TV, no iphone, etc (yep- it is like AJ is punished too, but I let him know he needs to look out for his brother better to make sure he is making good choices on the playground when they are together). It has been tough because P thinks that these naughty boys are "awesome" and wants to fit in so badly that he will do whatever they tell him to. We have to keep reminding him that he is the master of his fate and in control of his own decisions. I am hoping for a good day today. We got one last week, here's hoping for more. This is going to be a long road.