Whoa lady!

First, I must brag. My son scored the one and only goal for his team tonight. Not only did he score this all important goal he did it from midfield. He is known for his power kick and apparently this is what his coaches were hoping for. I was ecstatic and so was he. So much so that his mood stayed pretty much the same as his team slowly lost, goal after goal, probably by 6 or 7 goals. I stopped counting.

This brings me to the actually topic of tonight's blog - the woman next to me at the soccer game. The inevitable parent you want to knock out as she constantly coaches (screams at) her child from the sideline. He was so overwhelmed. As I watched him look from the ball to his mom I realized he was more afraid of what she was going to do/say than what was going to happen with the ball. And then the coach made him goalie. The terror in his face was enough to make you want to jump out in front of the goal for him. He just knew he was going to mess up...and he did. Three goals went past him (not that the defense did much to help him). I believe he was doomed from the beginning with his mom screaming from the sidelines. She actually told him to tell the coach he didn't want to play goalie, a coveted post among 6/7 year olds. She eventually went into a cold, coma like state when she realized he wasn't going to be the star she expected him to be. I bet he couldn't wait for the car ride home.

I am just disgusted. It's like receiving a precious gift and throwing it at the bottom of the toy box or leaving it out in the rain. I wonder what this poor boy will grow up to be like? Maybe, being a teacher, I already know the answer to that because I have met him before as a middle schooler.

So sad. So, so sad.