You Pinspire Me
With the start of the World Cup soccer in Brazil, many people’s minds are on soccer. Since Canada is not (and will likely never be) a contending force in soccer, I get to cheer for the Netherlands, where both my parents were born. Hup, Holland, hup! In that light, I’m going to pass on a few more Soccer Mom Tips that we’ve been discovering over the years.
1. Soccer Toy Bag
We usually have to keep 3 other kids busy while 1 is playing, so we’ve figured out the Soccer Toy Bag. I collected a huge bagful of similar-sized cars and trucks – we seemed to have so many of those noisy Tonka ones. I keep them in that bag permanently, and we store that in the van in the summer. It comes to games and practices with us, along with the blanket. Since the kids don’t see those cars all year long, they’re new and fun, and there are lots to share – we make friends every time. (And bonus – I don’t have to deal with those noisy trucks in the house!).
We always keep a soccer ball in our van (with our initials on it). This come in handy many different ways. Our older son will often take the ball off to the side and practice with his brothers or a friend. Or sometimes the coach is late and the team is standing around waiting, with no balls, so we use ours.
3. Get Moving!
The field we practice at has a gravel track around it, so I thought I’d start walking the track during practices. I walked at a leisurely pace, and did 10 laps around – it ended up being 5k! It’s very tempting to sit in that comfy folding chair, but I found I was much more engaged while I was walking, and I could wave at my child often as I walked past. And in the past, my excuse for sitting was that I was tired after a long day and needed to relax. But really, I spend the rest of the evening on the couch in front of the TV anyways, so I may as well get moving.
And I wasn’t sure how it would work with the kids around, but they actually joined me for about half of the laps. My 4-year old walked about 4 laps – 2km! If I had been sitting, they’d be sitting to, so this got them moving too!
Do you have any other soccer tips to share? Advice on how to survive the busyness of sports and activities?
Marya R
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These are great tips and reminders for all that we can do instead of just sitting around. At the football stadium I would “stadiums” which is basically jogging up and down all of those steps. It is an awesome butt and leg exercise.
What a GREAT idea!!
Nice tips here Marya! Thanks for sharing these soccer mom tips!!!
🙂 Thanks for stopping by!
Fun tips for moms, Marya and great site! 🙂
Thanks for the tips! We’re joining a very casual/fun summer soccer program. i’m hoping that the 3 older munchkins have fun.