Any parent that has a screen time prohibition is FS. We'd be divorced already if it wasn't for the miracle of TV babysitter.
We try to limit it to two hours per day (one each, but they're both always watching/playing, so it's basically two). By "try," I mean we tell the kids they each get an hour, then we get busy doing things, six hours go by, kids are still drooling and watching Netflix or playing Castle Crashers, and I'm like, "Eh... tomorrow they'll go outside."
Rinse, repeat.
My friends come over, say their kids are on a strict half hour per day regimen, and it's all I can do to stop myself from rolling my eyes and making the jerkoff motion: Either your life as a functioning adult, with your own desires and concerns and ambitions, is OVER or your kids are going to be plopped in front of some screens. There's no having it both ways.
I've lived this. For real.
What I've learned about parenting after a half-century on this planet is this: be a decent human being, treat your wife well and go to work every day. Your kids will watch you do these things and that will prove to be 1,000,000X more important than screen time, club sports, private school, playing classical music in the house, Cello lessons, learning French and all the shit you're going to lecture to them (which will go in one ear and out the other 99.9% of the tim, so save it).
And find better friends. I cut out people like that early on. Took my wife (the one with the beautimus cans) longer to cut bait with some people, which is weird when I look back on it because she's always had better instincts for social stuff than I.
My kids are good people and self-sufficient relative to their age. We've had great proud moments and we've had some hum dingers in the house. They make me happy and they are often the most giant pain in my ass. Raising children is not for the weak.
The lesson I'm learning now, which is probably the most important one, is this: you have to become your own person again after they're grown and wean yourself from riding their life's roller coaster with them. As one very wise person put it to me - you have to eventually get to the point at which you don't feel pain every time one of your kids gets pinched. At some point, you gotta let go enough to enjoy your life. I'm still working on this part, but I'm getting there. Not sure the wife will ever make it.
You forgot row boat, Creep. Nothing builds character and integrity in young people like row boat.
I did, indeed.
In all seriousness, if I'd had it to do over again, I'd have skipped all other sports and activities and put all three of them in a boat as young as Pocock or Mt. Baker would take them. And mostly because of the benefits you've extoled about the sport, which are too numerous to mention here.
But also, for me at least, the parents and the coaches in crew are 100% better people than parents you run into in other competitive sports. And I mean that. The environment couldn't be more different. Rowing attracts smart and competitive people who also tend to be calmer and have better emotional IQ. I can't remember which group I found more distasteful: the over-the-top Eastside Crossfire crowd, or the inner city basketball crowd. I've lived with boffe. The inner city hoops crowd is every bad stereotype you're thinking about. Friday Night Lights Dallas Carter imagery, only for hoops. I don't judge it; but it's not my cup of tea.
The Eastsiders are probably worse. I experienced guys who were senior Microsoft and Amazon people who thought their $$ and status would somehow magically give their daughter quick twitch muscle fiber that wasn't there. You'd have these kids who had personal 1on1 instruction from former pro and national team players, and as a result at age 10 their foot skills and game awareness made them A team material. But, as Uncle Creepy alluded to in another post, Darwin begins his process as they hit their teen years. 5'8" is generally better than 5'1", all else being equal. Fast is better than slow, always. Etc. etc. It was both miserable to be around, and wonderful to watch, some of these cocksuckers realize that who they are at Microsoft means shit for their kids on the field. When their athletically limited kids dropped to the B, C & D teams over time, and they did, these fuckers would lose their fucking minds. What a shit show.
Any parent that has a screen time prohibition is FS. We'd be divorced already if it wasn't for the miracle of TV babysitter.
We try to limit it to two hours per day (one each, but they're both always watching/playing, so it's basically two). By "try," I mean we tell the kids they each get an hour, then we get busy doing things, six hours go by, kids are still drooling and watching Netflix or playing Castle Crashers, and I'm like, "Eh... tomorrow they'll go outside."
Rinse, repeat.
My friends come over, say their kids are on a strict half hour per day regimen, and it's all I can do to stop myself from rolling my eyes and making the jerkoff motion: Either your life as a functioning adult, with your own desires and concerns and ambitions, is OVER or your kids are going to be plopped in front of some screens. There's no having it both ways.
I've lived this. For real.
What I've learned about parenting after a half-century on this planet is this: be a decent human being, treat your wife well and go to work every day. Your kids will watch you do these things and that will prove to be 1,000,000X more important than screen time, club sports, private school, playing classical music in the house, Cello lessons, learning French and all the shit you're going to lecture to them (which will go in one ear and out the other 99.9% of the tim, so save it).
And find better friends. I cut out people like that early on. Took my wife (the one with the beautimus cans) longer to cut bait with some people, which is weird when I look back on it because she's always had better instincts for social stuff than I.
My kids are good people and self-sufficient relative to their age. We've had great proud moments and we've had some hum dingers in the house. They make me happy and they are often the most giant pain in my ass. Raising children is not for the weak.
The lesson I'm learning now, which is probably the most important one, is this: you have to become your own person again after they're grown and wean yourself from riding their life's roller coaster with them. As one very wise person put it to me - you have to eventually get to the point at which you don't feel pain every time one of your kids gets pinched. At some point, you gotta let go enough to enjoy your life. I'm still working on this part, but I'm getting there. Not sure the wife will ever make it.
You forgot row boat, Creep. Nothing builds character and integrity in young people like row boat.
Row boat doesn't build character, it reveals it
I would chin this but I have a policy about chinning any post by @BearsWiin . The policy is, I don't.
Baseball dads are awful. I hear Hockey dads are even worse. Soccer parents of all genders are generally too stupid for their own good, and LaCrosse parents? I don't know many. By design. But the few I do know are completely fucking insufferable and can't admit they took up LaCrosse because it's the the only sport white enough for Jimmy to get playing time on the field in.
Baseball dads are awful. I hear Hockey dads are even worse. Soccer parents of all genders are generally too stupid for their own good, and LaCrosse parents? I don't know many. By design. But the few I do know are completely fucking insufferable and can't admit they took up LaCrosse because it's the the only sport white enough for Jimmy to get playing time on the field in.
Accurate assessment of lacrosse parents. Some of them can be fun to party with but as sports parents, my god. My kid’s HS has won 2 of the past 3 boys state titles and the 2018 girl title in lacrosse in VA for their classification. It’s so important to so many white people. Some of the girls have gotten decent scholarships out of it.
Any parent that has a screen time prohibition is FS. We'd be divorced already if it wasn't for the miracle of TV babysitter.
We try to limit it to two hours per day (one each, but they're both always watching/playing, so it's basically two). By "try," I mean we tell the kids they each get an hour, then we get busy doing things, six hours go by, kids are still drooling and watching Netflix or playing Castle Crashers, and I'm like, "Eh... tomorrow they'll go outside."
Rinse, repeat.
My friends come over, say their kids are on a strict half hour per day regimen, and it's all I can do to stop myself from rolling my eyes and making the jerkoff motion: Either your life as a functioning adult, with your own desires and concerns and ambitions, is OVER or your kids are going to be plopped in front of some screens. There's no having it both ways.
I've lived this. For real.
What I've learned about parenting after a half-century on this planet is this: be a decent human being, treat your wife well and go to work every day. Your kids will watch you do these things and that will prove to be 1,000,000X more important than screen time, club sports, private school, playing classical music in the house, Cello lessons, learning French and all the shit you're going to lecture to them (which will go in one ear and out the other 99.9% of the tim, so save it).
And find better friends. I cut out people like that early on. Took my wife (the one with the beautimus cans) longer to cut bait with some people, which is weird when I look back on it because she's always had better instincts for social stuff than I.
My kids are good people and self-sufficient relative to their age. We've had great proud moments and we've had some hum dingers in the house. They make me happy and they are often the most giant pain in my ass. Raising children is not for the weak.
The lesson I'm learning now, which is probably the most important one, is this: you have to become your own person again after they're grown and wean yourself from riding their life's roller coaster with them. As one very wise person put it to me - you have to eventually get to the point at which you don't feel pain every time one of your kids gets pinched. At some point, you gotta let go enough to enjoy your life. I'm still working on this part, but I'm getting there. Not sure the wife will ever make it.
You forgot row boat, Creep. Nothing builds character and integrity in young people like row boat.
I did, indeed.
In all seriousness, if I'd had it to do over again, I'd have skipped all other sports and activities and put all three of them in a boat as young as Pocock or Mt. Baker would take them. And mostly because of the benefits you've extoled about the sport, which are too numerous to mention here.
But also, for me at least, the parents and the coaches in crew are 100% better people than parents you run into in other competitive sports. And I mean that. The environment couldn't be more different. Rowing attracts smart and competitive people who also tend to be calmer and have better emotional IQ. I can't remember which group I found more distasteful: the over-the-top Eastside Crossfire crowd, or the inner city basketball crowd. I've lived with boffe. The inner city hoops crowd is every bad stereotype you're thinking about. Friday Night Lights Dallas Carter imagery, only for hoops. I don't judge it; but it's not my cup of tea.
The Eastsiders are probably worse. I experienced guys who were senior Microsoft and Amazon people who thought their $$ and status would somehow magically give their daughter quick twitch muscle fiber that wasn't there. You'd have these kids who had personal 1on1 instruction from former pro and national team players, and as a result at age 10 their foot skills and game awareness made them A team material. But, as Uncle Creepy alluded to in another post, Darwin begins his process as they hit their teen years. 5'8" is generally better than 5'1", all else being equal. Fast is better than slow, always. Etc. etc. It was both miserable to be around, and wonderful to watch, some of these cocksuckers realize that who they are at Microsoft means shit for their kids on the field. When their athletically limited kids dropped to the B, C & D teams over time, and they did, these fuckers would lose their fucking minds. What a shit show.
It's takes a certain amount of god given, rare human physical traits to get a D1 athletic scholarship. My wife had it for hoops in spades. Most kids trying to go that route for hoops or soccer, will never have "it" no matter how much their parents spend on club sports and fancy private coaching. I wish we could go back to the era of kids just being on the HS teams and calling it good.
Any parent that has a screen time prohibition is FS. We'd be divorced already if it wasn't for the miracle of TV babysitter.
We try to limit it to two hours per day (one each, but they're both always watching/playing, so it's basically two). By "try," I mean we tell the kids they each get an hour, then we get busy doing things, six hours go by, kids are still drooling and watching Netflix or playing Castle Crashers, and I'm like, "Eh... tomorrow they'll go outside."
Rinse, repeat.
My friends come over, say their kids are on a strict half hour per day regimen, and it's all I can do to stop myself from rolling my eyes and making the jerkoff motion: Either your life as a functioning adult, with your own desires and concerns and ambitions, is OVER or your kids are going to be plopped in front of some screens. There's no having it both ways.
I've lived this. For real.
What I've learned about parenting after a half-century on this planet is this: be a decent human being, treat your wife well and go to work every day. Your kids will watch you do these things and that will prove to be 1,000,000X more important than screen time, club sports, private school, playing classical music in the house, Cello lessons, learning French and all the shit you're going to lecture to them (which will go in one ear and out the other 99.9% of the tim, so save it).
And find better friends. I cut out people like that early on. Took my wife (the one with the beautimus cans) longer to cut bait with some people, which is weird when I look back on it because she's always had better instincts for social stuff than I.
My kids are good people and self-sufficient relative to their age. We've had great proud moments and we've had some hum dingers in the house. They make me happy and they are often the most giant pain in my ass. Raising children is not for the weak.
The lesson I'm learning now, which is probably the most important one, is this: you have to become your own person again after they're grown and wean yourself from riding their life's roller coaster with them. As one very wise person put it to me - you have to eventually get to the point at which you don't feel pain every time one of your kids gets pinched. At some point, you gotta let go enough to enjoy your life. I'm still working on this part, but I'm getting there. Not sure the wife will ever make it.
You forgot row boat, Creep. Nothing builds character and integrity in young people like row boat.
I did, indeed.
In all seriousness, if I'd had it to do over again, I'd have skipped all other sports and activities and put all three of them in a boat as young as Pocock or Mt. Baker would take them. And mostly because of the benefits you've extoled about the sport, which are too numerous to mention here.
But also, for me at least, the parents and the coaches in crew are 100% better people than parents you run into in other competitive sports. And I mean that. The environment couldn't be more different. Rowing attracts smart and competitive people who also tend to be calmer and have better emotional IQ. I can't remember which group I found more distasteful: the over-the-top Eastside Crossfire crowd, or the inner city basketball crowd. I've lived with boffe. The inner city hoops crowd is every bad stereotype you're thinking about. Friday Night Lights Dallas Carter imagery, only for hoops. I don't judge it; but it's not my cup of tea.
The Eastsiders are probably worse. I experienced guys who were senior Microsoft and Amazon people who thought their $$ and status would somehow magically give their daughter quick twitch muscle fiber that wasn't there. You'd have these kids who had personal 1on1 instruction from former pro and national team players, and as a result at age 10 their foot skills and game awareness made them A team material. But, as Uncle Creepy alluded to in another post, Darwin begins his process as they hit their teen years. 5'8" is generally better than 5'1", all else being equal. Fast is better than slow, always. Etc. etc. It was both miserable to be around, and wonderful to watch, some of these cocksuckers realize that who they are at Microsoft means shit for their kids on the field. When their athletically limited kids dropped to the B, C & D teams over time, and they did, these fuckers would lose their fucking minds. What a shit show.
It's takes a certain amount of god given, rare human physical traits to get a D1 athletic scholarship. My wife had it for hoops in spades. Most kids trying to go that route for hoops or soccer, will never have "it" no matter how much their parents spend on club sports and fancy private coaching. I wish we could go back to the era of kids just being on the HS teams and calling it good.
And playing multiple HS sports instead of specializing. The soccer shit is nuts now where the best players on clubs are banned from their HS teams or else get kicked off their club. They all become year round now. I’m as guilty as the rest cause my kid went with tennis and has no other real interest for competing. So that’s close to year round now.
-sound machine...minimizes other noises from waking baby up and lulls them to sleep with a plethora of nature sounds. We prefer rain.
-sleep sack...these come in a variety of shapes and sizes, but anything that’s an all in one (fuck swaddling blankets) that wraps them up and keeps them warm and secure works. Once they get strong enough to roll around they make some that look like one of the base jumper flying squirrel suits. Works great.
-get the kid OUT of your bed ASAP. This is a bit more personal preference and I’ve gotten in trouble for criticizing this, but I have friends that still co-sleep with their 2-3 year old children. AKA, no nights of sleep alone in your bed without getting constantly kicked and elbowed and worrying you’ll roll over and crush the little fucker.
-sound machine...minimizes other noises from waking baby up and lulls them to sleep with a plethora of nature sounds. We prefer rain.
-sleep sack...these come in a variety of shapes and sizes, but anything that’s an all in one (fuck swaddling blankets) that wraps them up and keeps them warm and secure works. Once they get strong enough to roll around they make some that look like one of the base jumper flying squirrel suits. Works great.
-get the kid OUT of your bed ASAP. This is a bit more personal preference and I’ve gotten in trouble for criticizing this, but I have friends that still co-sleep with their 2-3 year old children. AKA, no nights of sleep alone in your bed without getting constantly kicked and elbowed and worrying you’ll roll over and crush the little fucker.
This. Sound machine and sleep sacks are a must. Letting them sleep in the bed should be avoided at all costs.
What say you @FireCohen ? You got any advice to chime in with?
-sound machine...minimizes other noises from waking baby up and lulls them to sleep with a plethora of nature sounds. We prefer rain.
-sleep sack...these come in a variety of shapes and sizes, but anything that’s an all in one (fuck swaddling blankets) that wraps them up and keeps them warm and secure works. Once they get strong enough to roll around they make some that look like one of the base jumper flying squirrel suits. Works great.
-get the kid OUT of your bed ASAP. This is a bit more personal preference and I’ve gotten in trouble for criticizing this, but I have friends that still co-sleep with their 2-3 year old children. AKA, no nights of sleep alone in your bed without getting constantly kicked and elbowed and worrying you’ll roll over and crush the little fucker.
This. Sound machine and sleep sacks are a must. Letting them sleep in the bed should be avoided at all costs.
What say you @FireCohen ? You got any advice to chime in with?
Specifically never let your kid into your bed, even for a moment. My kids are convinced they will get sick if they lay on my bed and vice versa with theirs.
Those little fucks need routines and boundaries, never feel bad about them being upset, welcome to life you little shit.
Baseball dads are awful. I hear Hockey dads are even worse. Soccer parents of all genders are generally too stupid for their own good, and LaCrosse parents? I don't know many. By design. But the few I do know are completely fucking insufferable and can't admit they took up LaCrosse because it's the the only sport white enough for Jimmy to get playing time on the field in.
Accurate assessment of lacrosse parents. Some of them can be fun to party with but as sports parents, my god. My kid’s HS has won 2 of the past 3 boys state titles and the 2018 girl title in lacrosse in VA for their classification. It’s so important to so many white people. Some of the girls have gotten decent scholarships out of it.
My kid had no interest. Phew.
Blatant Cultural Appropriation, too. Surprised the Guilty White Libs aren't protesting and holding die-ins on the fields.
@Swaye will have something to say on this, I'm sure.
Any parent that has a screen time prohibition is FS. We'd be divorced already if it wasn't for the miracle of TV babysitter.
We try to limit it to two hours per day (one each, but they're both always watching/playing, so it's basically two). By "try," I mean we tell the kids they each get an hour, then we get busy doing things, six hours go by, kids are still drooling and watching Netflix or playing Castle Crashers, and I'm like, "Eh... tomorrow they'll go outside."
Rinse, repeat.
My friends come over, say their kids are on a strict half hour per day regimen, and it's all I can do to stop myself from rolling my eyes and making the jerkoff motion: Either your life as a functioning adult, with your own desires and concerns and ambitions, is OVER or your kids are going to be plopped in front of some screens. There's no having it both ways.
I've lived this. For real.
What I've learned about parenting after a half-century on this planet is this: be a decent human being, treat your wife well and go to work every day. Your kids will watch you do these things and that will prove to be 1,000,000X more important than screen time, club sports, private school, playing classical music in the house, Cello lessons, learning French and all the shit you're going to lecture to them (which will go in one ear and out the other 99.9% of the tim, so save it).
And find better friends. I cut out people like that early on. Took my wife (the one with the beautimus cans) longer to cut bait with some people, which is weird when I look back on it because she's always had better instincts for social stuff than I.
My kids are good people and self-sufficient relative to their age. We've had great proud moments and we've had some hum dingers in the house. They make me happy and they are often the most giant pain in my ass. Raising children is not for the weak.
The lesson I'm learning now, which is probably the most important one, is this: you have to become your own person again after they're grown and wean yourself from riding their life's roller coaster with them. As one very wise person put it to me - you have to eventually get to the point at which you don't feel pain every time one of your kids gets pinched. At some point, you gotta let go enough to enjoy your life. I'm still working on this part, but I'm getting there. Not sure the wife will ever make it.
You forgot row boat, Creep. Nothing builds character and integrity in young people like row boat.
I did, indeed.
In all seriousness, if I'd had it to do over again, I'd have skipped all other sports and activities and put all three of them in a boat as young as Pocock or Mt. Baker would take them. And mostly because of the benefits you've extoled about the sport, which are too numerous to mention here.
But also, for me at least, the parents and the coaches in crew are 100% better people than parents you run into in other competitive sports. And I mean that. The environment couldn't be more different. Rowing attracts smart and competitive people who also tend to be calmer and have better emotional IQ. I can't remember which group I found more distasteful: the over-the-top Eastside Crossfire crowd, or the inner city basketball crowd. I've lived with boffe. The inner city hoops crowd is every bad stereotype you're thinking about. Friday Night Lights Dallas Carter imagery, only for hoops. I don't judge it; but it's not my cup of tea.
The Eastsiders are probably worse. I experienced guys who were senior Microsoft and Amazon people who thought their $$ and status would somehow magically give their daughter quick twitch muscle fiber that wasn't there. You'd have these kids who had personal 1on1 instruction from former pro and national team players, and as a result at age 10 their foot skills and game awareness made them A team material. But, as Uncle Creepy alluded to in another post, Darwin begins his process as they hit their teen years. 5'8" is generally better than 5'1", all else being equal. Fast is better than slow, always. Etc. etc. It was both miserable to be around, and wonderful to watch, some of these cocksuckers realize that who they are at Microsoft means shit for their kids on the field. When their athletically limited kids dropped to the B, C & D teams over time, and they did, these fuckers would lose their fucking minds. What a shit show.
It's takes a certain amount of god given, rare human physical traits to get a D1 athletic scholarship. My wife had it for hoops in spades. Most kids trying to go that route for hoops or soccer, will never have "it" no matter how much their parents spend on club sports and fancy private coaching. I wish we could go back to the era of kids just being on the HS teams and calling it good.
My youngest was a serious ballerina for a long tim as young girl, and was the quietest, most easy going of my children. Also a momma's girl through and through. As she grew, her athletic ability became obvious at school, and eventually Papa Creep won the domestic war and we put the Arts in the rear-view mirror. She joined X-fire at U13, and took to it like a fish takes to water. Even though 13 is a ripe old age for premier soccer, she landed on the A team, and was on ECNL the next. She had a lot of D-1 attention, but from the "wrong" schools in Papa's view of things. I was very clear with my kids about college sports: nobody really gives a shit about girls sports and they're never going to get paid to do it. So use your athletic ability to barter for a selective school admissions letter and you can quit the sport the day you set foot on campus if you want to because IDRGAF. The middle one didn't do that and and had a very, very successful career as a real student athlete. The youngest has found nothing but disappointment in her shitty D3 soccer program, but doesn't care because she's at school where she wants to be at school, and not at the University of Idaho where she could have played D1 on scholarship. I'm not even sure she'll play her senior year.
The sports thing should be barely a secondary thought after getting what you want out of it unless your kid has legitimate NFL or NBA potential. If the latter, it's a whole different calculus.
-sound machine...minimizes other noises from waking baby up and lulls them to sleep with a plethora of nature sounds. We prefer rain.
-sleep sack...these come in a variety of shapes and sizes, but anything that’s an all in one (fuck swaddling blankets) that wraps them up and keeps them warm and secure works. Once they get strong enough to roll around they make some that look like one of the base jumper flying squirrel suits. Works great.
-get the kid OUT of your bed ASAP. This is a bit more personal preference and I’ve gotten in trouble for criticizing this, but I have friends that still co-sleep with their 2-3 year old children. AKA, no nights of sleep alone in your bed without getting constantly kicked and elbowed and worrying you’ll roll over and crush the little fucker.
This. Sound machine and sleep sacks are a must. Letting them sleep in the bed should be avoided at all costs.
What say you @FireCohen ? You got any advice to chime in with?
Um, shouldn't we be suggesting a Papoose? Much easier to transport on horseback.
Any parent that has a screen time prohibition is FS. We'd be divorced already if it wasn't for the miracle of TV babysitter.
We try to limit it to two hours per day (one each, but they're both always watching/playing, so it's basically two). By "try," I mean we tell the kids they each get an hour, then we get busy doing things, six hours go by, kids are still drooling and watching Netflix or playing Castle Crashers, and I'm like, "Eh... tomorrow they'll go outside."
Rinse, repeat.
My friends come over, say their kids are on a strict half hour per day regimen, and it's all I can do to stop myself from rolling my eyes and making the jerkoff motion: Either your life as a functioning adult, with your own desires and concerns and ambitions, is OVER or your kids are going to be plopped in front of some screens. There's no having it both ways.
I've lived this. For real.
What I've learned about parenting after a half-century on this planet is this: be a decent human being, treat your wife well and go to work every day. Your kids will watch you do these things and that will prove to be 1,000,000X more important than screen time, club sports, private school, playing classical music in the house, Cello lessons, learning French and all the shit you're going to lecture to them (which will go in one ear and out the other 99.9% of the tim, so save it).
And find better friends. I cut out people like that early on. Took my wife (the one with the beautimus cans) longer to cut bait with some people, which is weird when I look back on it because she's always had better instincts for social stuff than I.
My kids are good people and self-sufficient relative to their age. We've had great proud moments and we've had some hum dingers in the house. They make me happy and they are often the most giant pain in my ass. Raising children is not for the weak.
The lesson I'm learning now, which is probably the most important one, is this: you have to become your own person again after they're grown and wean yourself from riding their life's roller coaster with them. As one very wise person put it to me - you have to eventually get to the point at which you don't feel pain every time one of your kids gets pinched. At some point, you gotta let go enough to enjoy your life. I'm still working on this part, but I'm getting there. Not sure the wife will ever make it.
You forgot row boat, Creep. Nothing builds character and integrity in young people like row boat.
I did, indeed.
In all seriousness, if I'd had it to do over again, I'd have skipped all other sports and activities and put all three of them in a boat as young as Pocock or Mt. Baker would take them. And mostly because of the benefits you've extoled about the sport, which are too numerous to mention here.
But also, for me at least, the parents and the coaches in crew are 100% better people than parents you run into in other competitive sports. And I mean that. The environment couldn't be more different. Rowing attracts smart and competitive people who also tend to be calmer and have better emotional IQ. I can't remember which group I found more distasteful: the over-the-top Eastside Crossfire crowd, or the inner city basketball crowd. I've lived with boffe. The inner city hoops crowd is every bad stereotype you're thinking about. Friday Night Lights Dallas Carter imagery, only for hoops. I don't judge it; but it's not my cup of tea.
The Eastsiders are probably worse. I experienced guys who were senior Microsoft and Amazon people who thought their $$ and status would somehow magically give their daughter quick twitch muscle fiber that wasn't there. You'd have these kids who had personal 1on1 instruction from former pro and national team players, and as a result at age 10 their foot skills and game awareness made them A team material. But, as Uncle Creepy alluded to in another post, Darwin begins his process as they hit their teen years. 5'8" is generally better than 5'1", all else being equal. Fast is better than slow, always. Etc. etc. It was both miserable to be around, and wonderful to watch, some of these cocksuckers realize that who they are at Microsoft means shit for their kids on the field. When their athletically limited kids dropped to the B, C & D teams over time, and they did, these fuckers would lose their fucking minds. What a shit show.
It's takes a certain amount of god given, rare human physical traits to get a D1 athletic scholarship. My wife had it for hoops in spades. Most kids trying to go that route for hoops or soccer, will never have "it" no matter how much their parents spend on club sports and fancy private coaching. I wish we could go back to the era of kids just being on the HS teams and calling it good.
And playing multiple HS sports instead of specializing. The soccer shit is nuts now where the best players on clubs are banned from their HS teams or else get kicked off their club. They all become year round now. I’m as guilty as the rest cause my kid went with tennis and has no other real interest for competing. So that’s close to year round now.
Mine wasn't banned, but the Club coaches bet them to not play and shit on it every chance they get. There has been a backlash in Washington from players and parents, so much so that the Clubs have gotten smart and are a little more cooperative than they used to be. But it's definitely a rub.
get the kid OUT of your bed ASAP. This is a bit more personal preference and I’ve gotten in trouble for criticizing this, but I have friends that still co-sleep with their 2-3 year old children. AKA, no nights of sleep alone in your bed without getting constantly kicked and elbowed and worrying you’ll roll over and crush the little fucker.
I have a friend* who have a near-nine and six year old sleeping with them. What. The. Fuck. My kids have spent a combined zero nights in my bed and are still pussyass Momma's boy/girls, so why lose the sleep?
*His wife's Competitive Momming score? Off the charts.
get the kid OUT of your bed ASAP. This is a bit more personal preference and I’ve gotten in trouble for criticizing this, but I have friends that still co-sleep with their 2-3 year old children. AKA, no nights of sleep alone in your bed without getting constantly kicked and elbowed and worrying you’ll roll over and crush the little fucker.
I have a friend who have a near-nine and six year old sleeping with them. What. The. Fuck. My kids have spent a combined zero nights in my bed and are still pussyass Momma's boy/girls, so why lose the sleep?
Your friends are fucked-in-the-head Hippies. Get better friends.
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In all seriousness, if I'd had it to do over again, I'd have skipped all other sports and activities and put all three of them in a boat as young as Pocock or Mt. Baker would take them. And mostly because of the benefits you've extoled about the sport, which are too numerous to mention here.
But also, for me at least, the parents and the coaches in crew are 100% better people than parents you run into in other competitive sports. And I mean that. The environment couldn't be more different. Rowing attracts smart and competitive people who also tend to be calmer and have better emotional IQ. I can't remember which group I found more distasteful: the over-the-top Eastside Crossfire crowd, or the inner city basketball crowd. I've lived with boffe. The inner city hoops crowd is every bad stereotype you're thinking about. Friday Night Lights Dallas Carter imagery, only for hoops. I don't judge it; but it's not my cup of tea.
The Eastsiders are probably worse. I experienced guys who were senior Microsoft and Amazon people who thought their $$ and status would somehow magically give their daughter quick twitch muscle fiber that wasn't there. You'd have these kids who had personal 1on1 instruction from former pro and national team players, and as a result at age 10 their foot skills and game awareness made them A team material. But, as Uncle Creepy alluded to in another post, Darwin begins his process as they hit their teen years. 5'8" is generally better than 5'1", all else being equal. Fast is better than slow, always. Etc. etc. It was both miserable to be around, and wonderful to watch, some of these cocksuckers realize that who they are at Microsoft means shit for their kids on the field. When their athletically limited kids dropped to the B, C & D teams over time, and they did, these fuckers would lose their fucking minds. What a shit show.
My kid’s HS has won 2 of the past 3 boys state titles and the 2018 girl title in lacrosse in VA for their classification. It’s so important to so many white people. Some of the girls have gotten decent scholarships out of it.
My kid had no interest. Phew.
-sound machine...minimizes other noises from waking baby up and lulls them to sleep with a plethora of nature sounds. We prefer rain.
-sleep sack...these come in a variety of shapes and sizes, but anything that’s an all in one (fuck swaddling blankets) that wraps them up and keeps them warm and secure works. Once they get strong enough to roll around they make some that look like one of the base jumper flying squirrel suits. Works great.
-get the kid OUT of your bed ASAP. This is a bit more personal preference and I’ve gotten in trouble for criticizing this, but I have friends that still co-sleep with their 2-3 year old children. AKA, no nights of sleep alone in your bed without getting constantly kicked and elbowed and worrying you’ll roll over and crush the little fucker.
What say you @FireCohen ? You got any advice to chime in with?
Those little fucks need routines and boundaries, never feel bad about them being upset, welcome to life you little shit.
@Swaye will have something to say on this, I'm sure.
The sports thing should be barely a secondary thought after getting what you want out of it unless your kid has legitimate NFL or NBA potential. If the latter, it's a whole different calculus.
*His wife's Competitive Momming score? Off the charts.