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I managed to make a few promises to my kids recently. They weren’t huge promises but they were meaningful. I promised to be at my children’s soccer practices and games. I promised this to them and to myself. It means a lot for me and to my children to be at these functions.
Do you remember as a kid when your parents promised you something? They promised to take you somewhere or to do something special with you? You got your hopes up and you were excited for that promise. Then for one reason or another that promise wasn’t fulfilled. Plans changed or something interfered with the plans. You were bummed out and maybe cried a little from the disappointment.
I remember being hurt every time this happened. As a child I did my best to guilt my parents into keeping their promise (whatever it was at the time). It actually got to the point where my parents told me they were going to stop promising anything to me. And they did stop promising. It’s not to say that we didn’t do anything or go anywhere but they made a point not to get my hopes up.
So here I am making promises to my children. On the first official day of soccer practice I made a point to take the day off and be there to watch my kids practice. My wife and I had a great time watching them learn the basics of soccer, run around and learn to take direction from their coach. Practice ended and I was happy that I kept my promise.
The next weekend came quickly and I was unable to make it to the soccer game as I had to work. Due to not being able to work a normal schedule as a result of my occupation and because my wife and I are trying to make the “no daycare thing” work, I had to work. So I missed the practice for that weekend. I told myself it was only a practice and I would surely make the next one.
Well two weeks went by and I found myself working both times. It wasn’t the end of the world but as a dad I felt I was missing out on their learning moments. For me it is important to be there for those times.
Soccer games followed the four weekend practices. It was my goal to make it to every game (all 4 of them) which again landed on a Saturday. If you have read any of my other posts you know that I made the first one and it was awesome. Both my kids learned something and both scored a goal.
After making the first game my schedule got a bit crazy. I have been abundantly blessed to be self employed and to be working consistently over the last couple of months. To make time for the blessing of work I had to miss two following games on Saturday. Each Saturday I had promised my kids to be there for the games and then I had to turn around and tell them I couldn’t be there. I was lucky that my wife kept me updated on the kids and how they were doing during the game. I was bummed because I was missing out on that family time.
So here I am with one day of soccer remaining to attend. In fact the last day of soccer is a double header and both kids will play two games. I blocked off my personal calendar to be sure that I was available for the game. No amount of work was going to keep me from missing the last game of the soccer season.
Yeah right…. Within the week I received a request to work on soccer Saturday. I declined it and tried to reschedule the date but to no avail I could not reschedule. Then another request came in and I again had to turn it down for the soccer Saturday, and as I write this yet another request came in. I declined the soccer Saturday work, but was able to reschedule it thank goodness. This was a big test for my promise and with three days until game day it looks as if this soccer Saturday promise is a promise I am going to keep.
To any moms or dads that read this, have you struggled to keep promises to your kids or even your spouse? Have you ever had to turn something down to make sure your promise was kept? Let me know in the comments section if this relates to you.
Thanks for reading
Andrew
