As a mother you have many protective moments in life. It could be when you are at a playground and some over zealous kid pushes your kid to the ground, or another kid says something mean to yours. However when it is another parent that has something to say about your child that will for sure send you into a not nice place.
Zach has been playing, or I should say learning how to play, basketball for a month now. He has made some really good progress. I don't put him into sports to make him into the next Michael Jordan, I do it to teach him the importance of being on a team and learning the fundamentals of sports. The first couple practices Zach did was learning that it was not every person for himself and that he had to pass the ball and not steal it away from his team mates. He also was learning that Basketball is not a full contact sport. The first game he was asked to sit out because he was going after the ball too aggressively. He was very upset and came to me crying because he didn't understand what he did. Let me remind all those reading this that these are FOUR year olds playing basketball. His coach, who I adore, spent the next practice working with the kids about rebounding and keeping their hands in the air instead of going after the ball. The next couple games he did really good. This weekend they played after a week off for Thanksgiving and he was super amped up to play. He was really good but did get a little over excited at times. The coach from the other team (who by the way is a mom of one of the kids in Zach's class) was after him every time he was on the court and he was really not doing anything that I thought was that bad, and trust me I am Zach's biggest critic. Half way through the second quarter he got elbowed in the eye by a kid from the other team and he got blamed. Now mind you he has a bruise on his check right where he was hit. After the game the sports coordinator for Hampshire came up to Gary to tell him that Zach was being accused of biting another child by surprise surprise the coach from the other team. Gary asked if she saw him do it and she said no but the kid had a bite mark and said Zach was the one who gave it to him. I asked Zach if he bit someone, and instantly he adamantly said that it was not him. Typically if I ask Zach if he is guilty of something, or what he is in trouble for he will be quick to tell me what he did. When he thought I didn't believe him he started crying saying. "Mommy I swear I didn't bite anyone I didn't." I really believe him. We spend a lot of time with the kids about the importance of not lying and as far as I can tell both of them are really good about telling the truth. The coordinator said that Zach would have to sit out next game while they "investigated" the situation and possibly be removed from the program!! Are you FUCKING kidding me...this is four year old basketball. It's not like he brought a knife to the game a stabbed a kid. So the other coach says, "How would you feel if it were your child that got bit?" Honestly I would think it was most likely an accident, make Zach feel better and GET OVER IT!!!
It took everything I had to walk out the gym with out creating a scene. I know that this is Zach getting picked on because he is a hyper active child. He can be a lot of things, crazy, out of control, too rough, and noisy but a biter NO WAY. He has never ever bitten another kid in his entire four years. I spend a lot of time being an advocate for Zach because he doesn't process busy exciting situations very well. It is part of the sensory integration disorder he has that we work with the therapist for. All his teachers are aware of it, and next year when he goes to Kindergarten it is classified as a learning disorder.
I called his coach this afternoon and let them know there would be no point in sitting Zach this weekend because I was going to pull him from the program. I will not put him through a punishment for something I truly believe he did not do. I thanked him for the wonderful job that he did with Zach and wished him the best for the rest of the season.
This is a point that I never thought that I would get to in protecting my child. You always think that with boys they can handle their own battles, but when they are a defenseless four year old I had to step in.
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