Having 2 girls and a boy, especially when the youngest is the boy, I often get asked these 2 questions: a)Did you plan to try and get a boy b)Do you find it different and much harder with the boy being the last one? To the first question, I often smile and say, no and add, none of my kids were planned (and it’s true) when in fact deep down inside I really felt like saying, “Oh yes, you see, there’s this special button on my tummy that allows you to choose which sex you can get for your next child!” With the second question, as stereotypical as it may sound, it is true, I do find it a lot more different when dealing with girls than boys. Their temperament, their tantrums and even academically my girls and boy are just different. It could be a gender thing or it could be their individual personalities, either way, they’re different.
My girls have never really been into sports. Sure they’ve participated in the school’s sports activities, but when it comes to sports, the only thing that makes my skin crawl is seeing them do flips on the bars at the school playground. And rightly so, because Miss 10 once hit her face on the base of the monkey bar and slightly fractured her face! But, these are things that happen in playgrounds, if I could have cotton wool padding all over the place, I would, but I can’t and I won’t. It’s just things I have to learn to accept – accidents they call it.
Master 6 however, has suddenly grown an interest in footy. Not watching the game but actually playing it. I thought at first he was just running around with the boys at school, playing catch, but no…he actually knows how to play the game! Yes, I’m surprised, because Mr. C, although watches footy has never been one to play it. So after a year of begging us to let him join Auskick, we relented and signed him up this year. The difference though is that there’s no tackling at Auskick, so to me, it’s still pretty “safe”. Call me a helicopter parent, but, the thought of anyone tackling my little tiny boy does scare me! The same goes for their play at school. Although they have been told that they CANNOT tackle, boys will be boys and yes, they still do. I was fine with that until one day the school rang to tell me that his glasses snapped in half! Eeek! Then a few days later, he got tackled by the same boy and he had a nose bleed and yesterday, the penny finally dropped. Master 6 got tackled again and hurt his foot – apparently it hurt a lot. So he went up to his teacher – who coincidentally is a VFL player – to let him know. Thankfully they’ve been warned no tackling – doubt it’ll last. So, with a broken pair of glasses, a nearly broken nose and a nearly broken…foot(?) how can I the helicopter parent prevent any more injuries bar from stopping him playing footy at school? Ok, so this won’t really prevent injuries, but at least cushion any impact on his face and head – mouthguards.
Shock Doctor Mouthguards rrp$29.95 available at Rebel Sport
It is said that less than 20% of 5-17 year olds wear mouthguards when playing contact sport. I wonder why that is when the professional players themselves wear one. Probably because we often think it won’t come to that? But some kids can get carried away – like the same said boy who tackled Master 6 over and over again. They don’t mean any harm but when caught in the moment, can just let things fly. With the cushion support of a reliable mouthguard, it can help minimise damage to the delicate soft tissues in the mouth, cushion teeth against impact to the head and absorb and spread the force of an impact to the face by protecting the jaw and facial bone structure. Sounds good to me.
So now, I guess I’m going to have to get him to wear one. Just in case. At least I won’t need to a)chain him up and not let him play footy b)make him wear an armour when he does play footy! I think that should be a pretty good compromise. Do your kids play contact sport? If so, what sports do they play and what sort of protective gear do you make them wear?
*I was given a set of Shock Doctor Mouthguards for consideration in accordance with the site’s Disclosure Policy.
