So I’m feeling pretty rubbish right now. We’ve just had our second time at Saturday morning football with my four year old and to say it didn’t go well would be an understatement. My husband and I both attended as after his first week there and he absolutely loved it and after seeing him get really stuck in we both were keen to see him play again.
Well, this morning our son decided he didn’t want to play or even attempt to join in so was left on the sidelines with me for most of the training session. This I wasn’t too fussed about as 4 is still very young and after a full week at school then perhaps he just felt a bit tired.
The real problem and issue was mine and my husbands reaction to this. It’s worth pointing out my husband is an ex professional athlete who from his old stories of training had things pretty tough and is of course highly competitive whereas although I’m slightly competitive I never did competitive sport so I don’t have that experience that has ultimately shaped him as a person.
I feel there were expectations put on our son even before he was born and with ever milestone came comparisons to his father. As my son has developed into his own person we have realised he doesn’t share the same passion for sports as his father and is more of a gentle child who loves what my husband would describe as “girly things”. I chose this kids football club as it praises itself on being uncompetitive and all about fun and a few of his friends play so I hoped he would enjoy it however when my son would not join in I saw my husband drag him into the football field screaming and insisting he does and to stop “being soft”. I tried to stop him, which in hindsight, probably made things worse as my son was visibly upset at this point and other parents were looking at us.
I asked my husband to let my son watch for a bit if he was upset after getting hit by a ball only for my husband to snap back he was “too soft” and tell me he “would be bringing him next week on his own” so he could deal with him. We have proceeded to have a quiet argument and exchanged some choice words with him ultimately saying I was the problem and I’m too soft with him and I don’t push him enough so what to we expect after I’ve let him be so clingy to me. I don’t feel this is completely true as although I would never drag my crying child onto a pitch I do encourage massively and said I was disappointed that he didn’t give joining in a go. As ridiculous as this sounds but me having to tell my son I wasn’t very happy that he didn’t at least try really upset me and it affected my son too as since we’ve come home he’s been making me things asking if “I’m happy now with him”. I massively regret saying I wasn’t happy or proud with him but in the heat of the moment I felt I had to show my husband I wasn’t being too softly prove a point. My son and I have an incredibly close bond so the whole situation has just really upset us both.
I honestly don’t know who is right or wrong in this scenario - maybe both of us in our own ways. I am desperate for my son to be involved in some sort of out of school activity but I hoped it would be a positive experience but I am doubting that my “softly softly” approach is the right way to go after today and whether my husband has a point. My mother in law is quite a cold person (no kisses or hugs as a child sort of thing) but a nice person but obviously pushed my husband hard as a child and he went on to achieve great things and saw his success provide him (and now us as a family) a wonderful comfortable life and he constantly thanks his mother’s for being so hard.
This is our first experience where we are seeing big clashes of parenting styles when it comes to sport and generally competitiveness and I don’t know how to deal with it at all. I don’t want a repeat performance of this morning so I need to find a way that both my husband and I can watch our son without it turning ugly. Competitive parent vs non pushy parent?! Tips please!!?!