Following up a previous blog in which I wrote about wisdom found in the movie Bull Durham, it’s clear I’m a New Yorker recovering from a brutal winter. Spring baseball is on my mind. And with baseball and children come hours for parents of sitting around waiting for anything at all to happen on a Little League field. It wasn’t until I became—in addition to a baseball fan—a parent that I realized just how slow the sport can be.
How much of our parenting time do we spend taking children to ball games, dropping them off, and then waiting for the action to begin? And then once the so-called action begins, how much actually happens? The answers, at least until children get older, are “an awful lot” and “not much.” It’s all fun and games and bonding together, except when it isn’t.
Knowing that, can we fully support our children while also taking a moment for ourselves? The answer to that, depending on how we spend our time hanging out, is “yes.” The long, slow hours of a Little League baseball game can prove both entertaining (if and when something happens) and create an opportunity for parents to use…
