In The Swing of Things

The knock on the bedroom door from my son came too early for me. After I growled, indicating that I wanted to go back to sleep, my wife reminded me that this was our son's special "Daddy time."  Then she went back to sleep. 

"Sports class at park with Daddy," my son shouted enthusiastically. Any hope of getting more rest vanished. I glanced at the clock and knew we had to rush if we were going to make it on time. 

Coach Andy, our fearless Parent N' Me Sports & Games leader, began class with the call for us to take a spot on the warm-up line. This week, we would be taking on tee-ball.

"Daddy, swing!" my son blurted out. I smiled. This would be his first swing of the baseball bat, and I was ecstatic. But first we had to warm up the arms.

Coach Andy led us in tossing a baseball back and forth. My son struggled a bit with throwing the ball to where I was standing, just a few feet away, and some of his throws actually went backwards, but I was just happy that he was happy.

My son looked up at me with wide eyes. "Swings!" he shouted. "Not yet," I told him. It would be just a few more minutes until it was time to swing bats. "Swings now," he repeated, this time, grabbing my hand and tugging me away from the rest of class, toward a colorful playground in the distance. 

It all made sense now. It was the swings that he wanted to play on. Not actual swings of the bat. I shrugged and promised him that we would spend some time at the swings after class. 

For the next activity, Coach Andy set-up a mini baseball diamond and told the kids and parents to chase him from base to base. About 20 of us hovered around a 17-inch base until we were told to run to the next one. It was a bit chaotic, to say the least.

I quickly picked up a baseball and started to toss it again with my son. A few minutes later, his throws actually began to send the ball right to me. And it hit me (not the ball)—the reason we were here was not to reinforce athletic skills, but to enjoy the beautiful morning at one of our local parks while sharing the experience together. 

As promised, once class ended, we headed to the swings. "Me like swings, Daddy," he said, all smiles. This time, there was no doubt what he meant.