Wednesday, March 26, 2008

Bending bedtime rules...for sports?

I love sports (I know - my mom is dying over this one because as I kid, I hated them and my worst punishment would be to have to watch an actual baseball game on TV). I've exercised my womanly right to change my mind on a regular basis. Now that I'm grown, I can freely admit that I love sports. I believe sports can play an integral part in helping kids grow into responsible adults and to that end, both The Boy and The Girl are involved in sports.

It is now baseball season. I believe I mentioned The Boy is on the Yankees. This is pretty exciting to him because the Yankees are his favorite MLB team. Practices started a couple of weeks ago. Opening day is Saturday but The Boy's team has a bye. His first game is Monday at 5:45pm. We are pretty excited about this. His next game is Wednesday. At 7:15. PM. At night. Did I mention that Wednesday is a school night? Monday is too. In fact, ALL the games The Boy plays are either Monday or Wednesday night. Seven of the games begin at 7:15. The other seven are at 5:45. At night. On school nights. The time limit for games is 2 hrs. If all games start ON TIME (yeah, right!), we will FINISH them at either 7:45 or 9:15pm.

Have I mentioned that bedtime at our house is 8pm? (OK - sometimes we get a little crazy and extend it to 8:30...). I'm not exactly sure how The Boy is going to play ball from his bed. I wonder if his teammates will laugh at him when he's wearing his PJs instead of a uniform...

The Boy is 10. He is still a child. 8pm is a very reasonable bedtime. He gets up at 6am and the bus picks him up at 7am. Am I crazy here? Am I missing something? Why is this OK? Why is it acceptable for a league of 9- and 10-yr-old boys to play games that last until after 9pm on school nights? I don't think 9-10 hrs of sleep is excessive for an active CHILD. If the game ends at 9:15 (and, just for giggles, let's be realistic. let's say it ends at 9:30), it is 10pm by the time we get home. The Boy still has to shower. At BEST, he will get to bed at 10:30pm...but we all KNOW he won't fall asleep immediately! So now, we're looking at his getting about 7 hrs of sleep a night. ADULTS are recommended 8 hrs of sleep. Why is it OK for kids to get less sleep in the name of sports?

And now...now that I have the schedule, what do I do? Do I pull him off the team, crushing his spirit and leaving a team one child short (when there are so few boys to begin with?) No. That's not the right message either. I don't know the answer yet. We will muddle through for now...I'll keep you posted.

6 comments:

  1. That is most certainly a rock and a hard place. 8:00 pm seems like a completely reasonable bedtime considering how early everybody gets up. Too bad they can't just play on Saturdays and leave school nights alone. I mean, not only is there the bedtime issue, but when is he going to eat, do homework, and act like a kid?

    Good luck!

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  2. yikes... yeah, not much to say over here either. I just don't get the whole sports thing mixing in with school when kids are SO YOUNG. I'm glad it's not just me.

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  3. You could always homeschool and begin your day at your leisure. Then again, you could also shoot off your foot. It is a toss up.

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  4. Why don't you just give it a try...if it doesn't work, he might understand giving up the games this term.
    Mom

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  5. We're in the same exact boat here.
    Sam's games start up the beginning of April and most of them are Tuesdays and Friday nights. The games begin at 7:30. *eyeroll*

    You know what's sad - is that if we brought this up and complained about it, WE'D look like the idiots. Its like, in order to be taken seriously, we'd have to assemble a Covert Anti-Night-Game Task Force to be taken seriously, before approaching the royal throne of the local Baseball Commission.

    Seriously!

    Laura

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  6. I dont really have any advice on this situtation though I completely agree with you. I have a 10 year old active boy with an 8:00 bedtime as well....I try not to let the days events take us past an 8:30 bedtime. What league seriously thought that these were appropriate times for children to play sports?

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