Not the blue goal?

I have recently become a soccer mom (although not sure if I really fit the soccer mom persona) to a not even 3 year old yet and I tell you what, it is the absolute cutest darn thing I have ever seen.  Pure chaos and bundles of energy running in every direction but the right one, balls going in the wrong goal, tripping over their own feet, all while the coaches and parents are yelling directions.  I have also learned that this can be a little much for a little guy (or girl) to handle as Max had the most tale telling pouty look on his face from the moment we stepped onto the field to the time we left that day. 

For a kid who always rolls with the punches, even traveled 12 straight hours in one day the week before with little protest, I have to say I was somewhat shocked and embarrassed.  Of course as a parent you think "what am I doing wrong?" when your child acts bratty and whiny and it can be hard to train yourself how to not make it a reflection of what you are doing or have done and more of finding out what is going on in that little mind of theirs.  But even for such a verbal little fellow who frequently talks about feelings with me when I asked him what his problem was (may have been through gritted teeth) he couldn't say anything at all.  It was all overwhelming.  We literally had just found out 4 days earlier that he was going to get to play, had his first practice one day later and then his first game.  He had just gotten his new gear including shiny new soccer ball that afternoon before and wait a minute, another kid kicked my ball during warm ups?  Kid, you are pushing your luck, that ball has my name on it.  "M-A-X marks the spot" as he says.  And everyone else has these pretty green shirts they are wearing.  And then what's the deal with this whole different group of kids wearing different color shirts?  Who the hell are they and who told them they could kick our ball?  And what happened to having several balls at once (like practice)?  And then as he told me "I want to kick it into the blue goal, not the red one!"  And then the sharing aspect is totally blown out of the water.  You mean to tell me Mom, you have been telling me we have to share all my life and now you can just run up to whomever has the ball and take it from them?  But only after the whistle blows?  But then when the whistle blows it has to be our turn to kick it first?  What if I want to kick it before the whistle blows?  What do you mean I can't do that?  I just want to kick the ball.  "Where is Grayson?  I just want to play with my friend." I told you I wanted to kick it into the blue one, why are you trying to get me to kick it into the red one?  Where is he going with the ball?  And I still haven't gotten to kick the ball.  What do you mean we won?  "I just want to go home!" 

I have to say, the whole 30 or 45 minutes or however long it lasted (I have no idea since I was dealing with cranky pants the whole time) was just no fun.  I would say his total playing time (after much encouragement) was approximately 4 minutes.  I blame myself for a lot of it.  Max does very well when he is told what is going to happen.  That's always the first thing he asks when we get in the car "Where are we going?  What are we going to do?"  Looking back, he probably needed a little bit more detail and insight rather than "to the soccer game".  I feel kind of like a Dora the Explorer episode most of the time when I tell him (on the trip to Colorado for instance) we are going "in Cici's car to the airport, where we ride a shuttle to the airplane we fly in, then a train (tram) to get our luggage, then a bus though the mountains, to Ryan's rental car, which will take us to Aunt Di's rental house" but that way he knew what to expect and when and therefore did fine.  There wasn't much talk about what happens at a soccer game leading up to the soccer game.  I also have since recorded a soccer game on TV which I am hoping I can keep his attention on just for 5 minutes while I explain some things. 

And of course ultimately if he decides he doesn't want to play he doesn't have to but I do think its important for him to try and try lots of different things too.  Organized sports taught me a lot about comradery, ups and downs, "how to overcome adversity", time management, and how important structure is in a young person's life and I would love nothing more than my son to have a better understanding of these things.