Its Little League baseball season again. Something I used to complain about, but after surviving the nightmare of insane Pop Warner Football people and obsessed Club Soccer families….I now totally and complete embrace the sport of baseball. It fits us perfectly. The first couple of practices are always a hot bed of activity for the Parents. Due to this thing called ‘mandatory volunteer’ clause. Which is the best oxymoron ever. If it is MANDATORY then you are not volunteering right? But that is okay….I love helping out. Because as you know by now… I am THAT mom. The one who is all involved and happy to be there. The one wearing the team colors from head to toe. So I will be pitch counting the games, scraping, setting up and watering the field. Coordinating parties, working snack shack (a whole ‘nuther thing people) and applying band-aides and more. (We have the world’s best team mom* already. but yes, I did volunteer to do it. Cuz I am insane.)
So you might be surprised by what I have to say today.
I am over the team SNACK thing.
Do you know what I am talking about?
So when a new team is started a little list goes around and all the parents pick a day to ‘bring an after the game snack’. The boys on our team are ages 9-11, not toddlers or even infants who have to eat something every 3 hours. I am pretty damn sure my kids can wait till after we get them home to eat. And the majority of our games are at 6:30 at night. Meaning we will be ending about 9:30. What the hell is an appropriate snack then? A warm glass of milk?
So let’s say your kid just has to have a snack. Just HAS to eat the very minute the game is over……well, here is a radical idea…..
How about YOU bring YOUR OWN kid a snack?
This would also eliminate the whole ‘snack-one-upness’ thing that goes on. The first week someone brings a granola bar and a juice, the following week that mom has to try to out-do…so she brings cookies and Gatorade. After a few weeks it has progressed to custom baseball themed cupcakes and ice cold glasses of milk or even pre-packaged $6 baseball themed box-snacks. If you are assigned one of the last games of the season you start to consider bringing in a caterer or a roach coach to feed these poor hungry children who had to go a whole THREE hours without eating and are surely to pass out and die if they don’t get nourishment before they drive the 10 minutes home after the game.
If they had needed me to be the team mom, the first thing I would have implemented was getting rid of the team SNACK thing.
While reviewing our current game snack assignments for the season, I mentioned my idea to Jack. He of course looked me in the eye and said
“No Snack? Mom, that is un-American.”
*
Can anyone explain to me the point of these team snacks? Do you feel differently? Agree?
*Like to add that I am thrilled the boyz got on this particular team. Not only are they the best coaches in the league. But the team mom is kinda famous for her efficiency! And don’t worry I promise to bring really good snacks still.:)
{ 13 comments… read them below or add one }
I haven’t reached the ‘team snack’ thing with my kids yet but I have a feeling I would view them in the same light I look at the party goody bags – a completely unnecessary parental headache.
I totally agree. I don’t have boys, and my girls are in BALLET so their snack is a hot bowl of steam and a glass of air. But I too would be concerned about sugary snacks right before bedtime. We have become a nation hell-bent on catering to the instant, satisfying every conceivable whim before it anyone even thinks of it. And now, before you think someone has commandeered Foolery’s keyboard, I’ll say something crazy:
Soccer doesn’t do the snacks- and i don’t know about Pop Warner- but I don’t think so.
Ok, I am the expert of team snacks. Well, not really but I have 4 boys who have all played sports at some point. I denounce the team snack. I HATE it with a fiery passion. I actually get it for the little kids 5, 6 maybe even 7. Past that? No. Like you said, bring your own damn snack or go home and eat. And if there is snack sign up, I’m usually at the end and upset the whole one-upmenship thing by sending granola bars and no drink.
PS – Where we live it’s expect you will provide for siblings also. WTF?
Just wait until you get into high school. If ya happen into a sport that hasn’t already had the knock down, drag out fight, you’re toast – pretty cupcakes won’t qualify as a snack (neither does toast except at The Rocky Horror Picture Show). “Snacks” are rated on cost, calories (% protein, % fat, clearly labled), allergeric reaction potential, cost, ‘suitability’ (snack speak for trendy and popular) and did I mention cost? Efficency and convieance don’t come into play. Also keep in mind that snack ‘ratings’ have an indirect effect on playing time. Picture the picky eater who doesn’t play well because ‘their blood sugar was low’, causing the team to loose ‘the most important game of the season’ (defined as a non-conference, mid-season yawner). The coach frowns on anything that causes his team to loose. Trust me when I say, it’s easier and much less painful to fire the coach now before you ever get into highschool than it is having to continue dealing with team snacks. ….not that I have a strong opinion one way or another about any of this.
What happened to everybody going to the pizza joint after the game? (I’m REALLY behind the times.)
Ugh… I cannot stand the snacks (we’re in the 9-11 range for both of our kids too.) Snacks are pretty much over for softball – but for baseball – the last few years, the team mom gets snack shack tickets. We give her like $20 or something and she gets the snack tickets and hands them out after every game. the kids love it. I don’t – but it’s better than the one-up thing you were talking about (and it’s real up here in Northern Cali too.) The problem is the waiting after the game and the choices, and the desire for something that is MORE than the snack ticket is worth. But, it’s still better I suppose – because a SLURPEE is REQUIRED after a baseball game…
Oh my God…this is so funny. I don’t know what I’d do if it were me. My boys are 7 and 5, and my 7 yr old just isn’t into sports yet since he’s autistic. I think I might have the balls (get it?) to say NO WAY to the snack thing at that age!
I love the line about Toddlers.
Wow, I haven’t had to deal with this. When we were in softball as kids, it was a huge deal to go to the snack shack and load up on junk food. Who wants a freaking cupcake when there is Fun Dip and Butterfingers to be had? Seriously. Is this something the parents can revolt on?
I wholeheartedly agree! Our soccer coach actually requested that we bring a snack for half time AND for after the game, which is only ONE hour! WTH??? And i refuse to fall into the oneupness. I bring whatever’s easiest and cheapest.
oh, and like Heidi, the siblings are looking for snacks too. My husband actually had to tell a sister to hold off until all the players had their snacks.
I just bought snack bar tickets for the snack bar. About a dollar per kid. Easiest and cheapest way to get the job done.