Tonight, I’m blogging from my son’s t-ball practice. I’ve made some resolutions to blog more often, but with somewhat shorter posts. Feel free to nudge me if I’m not living up to it.
My 5-year old is playing his first season of t-ball this summer. T-ball is one of those precious moments to savor as a parent. The kids T-shirts are too long and adorably untucked. The tiny players lack the professional gear like cleats, baseball pants and batting gloves. They do however wear batting helmets which on their tiny bodies make them look like bobble head dolls. At this age, the parents are all relaxed enough to simply enjoy their children. There are no unruly parents on the sidelines.
In short, it’s an experience that makes it clear why baseball is America’s favorite past time.
Ok, so of course there’s a tiny disturbance in the force in this story. All of the teams in our local YMCA league share names with professional MLB franchises. My son plays on the Red Sox and my daughter’s softball team is the White Sox. (To make things easy, I just yell, “Go Sox.”) Apparently, the MLB requires that the YMCA teams purchase officially licensed merchandise in order to use the name. My kids each got officially licensed baseball hats or visors. Luckily, the T-shirts aren’t official or this sport would start to get pretty expensive.
Perhaps there’s a benefit to making the kids feel connected to the bigger baseball world, but I’m not seeing it. I personally would not care if my son’s team was called the purple squirts. It seems to be part of the cradle-to-grave marketing strategy … get them while they’re young and capture a customer for life. Does that really work?
Tags: baseball, children, licensed, marketing, MLB, parenting, t-ball, tee ball
Entries (RSS)
August 22nd, 2008 at 10:42 pm
Seriously, is there a point in your life where you aren’t obsessed over some stupid, material product and its stupid, material impact on your kids? Are you so in love with yourself as an “informed, tech-savvy parent” that you compulsively detail all of your consumerist hang-ups and shallow, overprotective decisions? Did you ever consider the hypocrisy of ranting and raving over PG-13 movies being sold to young boys, then whacking off to the latest social-blog-web4.7-face-space-my-tweet fad, a system that desensitizes children to conversing with strangers and leading sedentary, insulated lifestyles? Was there a point where you lost both friends and your husband because you were too concerned with maintaining double standards in your children’s lives, all because you crave authority and control, but still desperately want to your kids to think you’re “hip” and “cool”?
To be succinct, if you’re going to be a sham parent, do you think the rest of the world really needs you writing about it?
August 26th, 2008 at 9:37 pm
Zibraltar,
From my perspective, I believe I’m like a lot of parents who are doing their best to help establish loving boundaries and safety nets for their kids. You bet, I crave some control over the marketing noise that infiltrates my children’s lives from so many directions. But I realize the noise is loud and control is an illusion. Perhaps that’s why I blog. It’s a sounding board and way to connect with other parents.
While every parent would probably like their child to think that they are ‘cool,” I seriously doubt you can maintain it once your child is older than 10. My husband (yep, he’s still around) and I both work in technology, so it’s a strong force in our household. Some of my goals are to help my children understand the do’s and dont’s so they can keep themselves safe and not embarrass themselves on Facebook. Hopefully, I can be more effective if I stay engaged and informed than if I either turn a blind eye or attempt to block them from accessing the Internet.
September 16th, 2008 at 5:17 pm
Hey Zibraltar, perch and rotate. No one forces you to read a blog. If you’re so easily offended by the viewpoints of an “informed, tech-savvy parent,” perhaps you’ve chosen unwisely by visitng this blog.
Lisa, nicely stated. You’re a credit to motherhood; don’t let an asshat from the “innerwebs” tell you otherwise.
September 16th, 2008 at 8:43 pm
I absolutely agree with Lisa. In order to protect your children, you have to be familiar with what they are exposed to daily. She seems to be very involved in her kids’ lives which is really crucial in this day and age.
@Zibraltar If you want to troll someone, make sure you add your information. Don’t hide behind anonymity!