Snack Parent

This whole snack thing cracks me up.

When my boys were young -- back in pee wee football, biddy basketball, T-ball -- parents took turns bringing snacks. Cut up oranges, granola bars, Gatorade. I get it. The kids were young, we all enjoyed providing for them. But this continued right through little league and travel soccer and all rec sports. Now my boys are in high school. Ahh, I thought, I can finally relax. Be a spectator. But no. Not even close. At least not in this town. Not only are we the parents still signed up for snack duty, but lets add team dinners to the mix.

Last week, a parent got lambasted for not bringing the right bagels (something about too many "sesame" and not enough "everything") for a pre-tennis match snack. I'm scared that my kid will be abused if I don't get the team dinner right. Isn't this getting a little silly? Maybe we should consider catering our kids' team snacks??

I don't want to sound like one of those old-timers (when I was a kid....), but seriously, when I was a kid not only did my parents NEVER EVER bring us snacks, they barely ever came to any of our games. You might think badly of my folks (and well you should), but no one's parents attended the games. We played for ourselves, for the victory, for the inner sense of accomplishment. We did not play to please our folks. And if you thought you might get hungry, you packed a snack. Thirsty? You'd remember to take a drink. If you forgot, you damn well would remember next time. It's not complicated. Do we really need to treat our teenagers like a bunch of babies? I feel like we're disabling them. 

Do I really need to remind my 15-year-old when he has soccer practice? If he needs to wear blue or white for his away game? If he'd like the Special K bar or the Nature's Valley? Banana or orange? Come on, I say enough. Enough with the snacks and the team dinners and the coddling.

Here's a novel idea: If these kids really want these things, let them put it together. Let them plan ahead. Let them call up their buddies and meet up at the pizza place for a "team dinner."