Soccer may equal..."bad decision"

I wouldn't exactly say that soccer was going according to plan. Actually, this is exactly how I envisioned it going down...I was just praying I would be wrong! :)

He did ok during our first practice. Had a meltdown for the last 15-20 min. I was shocked he lasted that long. 2nd practice we missed. Both boys were sick and I had taken them to the doctor that day. 3rd practice, Brice cried (or whaled according to B) the ENTIRE practice. Wanted nothing to do with it or anyone there.

So that means our first game was Saturday, Sept. 11. We were set to play at 11:00 in the morning. I knew this was going to be a team effort between B & I to get Brice fired up to play. First of all, it's still 100 degrees during the day in Alabama! Let's all collectively agree that is insane!!! However, this day seemed like it was about 9000 degrees with 100% humidity. Needless to say, sweat was running down every inch of our bodies...as soon as we arrived at the field.

Brice was in no mood to play soccer. He did not want to get dressed, he did not want to put on his shoes...he wanted NO PART! After some encouraging by both Brandon & I, he got on the field. However, he proceeded to stand there and started crying. I'm not talking about crying b/c he was hurt, but crying b/c he was miserable!!!! Brandon tried talking to him, I tried talking to him, Poppie/Gigi/Gramps/Grammie allllllllllllll tried talking to him. He just KEPT crying!

**Side note** Yes, we had an entire cheering section for his first game. All the grandparents, Meme (his great-grandmother) and Aunt Mo came to support Brice.

The child would not move from the middle of the field. His teammates were actually kicking their balls around him b/c he would NOT move. Brandon finally got him off the field, but still more crying! After getting him calmed down, oh and the game had started at this point, B asked him "What's wrong Brice?? Why don't you want to get out there and play?" He proceeded to say, "I'm HOT and I don't want to play in the HOT!" Oh no...could it be...he is MORE like his mother and I'm willing to admit??? :) Well, that answer did not sit well with his father so I got the "look", plus finger point and snap to get over to the bench.

When I got there, Brandon said "You can handle this..." and just walked away. He was b-e-y-o-n-d upset!!! So, I proceeded to try and reason with Brice and finally he said the words that NO parent ever wants to hear...."Mom, I don't want to play because I'm not good at soccer. I'm a loser." OOOOOOO-MMMMM-GGGGG..............are you kidding me??? Who told my son he was a loser and how does he know what that means!?!?!?!? Talk about breaking my heart in to a million and one pieces!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Uggghhhh, I'm getting teary-eyed just thinking about it.

Well, after that I thought there was no hope getting him to go in and play. I will say, he did go on the field...never ran for the ball or even kicked it, but he did make it onto the field.

So needless to say, Brandon and I have both been questioning whether or not we make him stick with it. I mean, after all...he is ONLY 3. It's not like this is life or death kind of thing, BUT...we don't want to be those parents that let the child dictate the actions. You know what I mean???

Practice, since then has been MUCH better. We actually had to skip the game last week b/c Brice woke up with a 102 fever, so unfortunately there hasn't been much consistency. Which is frustrating!

Fingers crossed our next game will be more successful!