I haven’t talked much about my baseball team, the rag-tag group of 8-9 year olds I’m coaching this season, because if I start I may never stop. They’re just that much fun. One great thing that happened the other night got me thinking about that cliche that when you’re a parent or a teacher or just someone who spends a lot of their time with kids, you get to experience life all over again.
I haven’t found that so much to be true. Probably because I like being a grown up way more than I ever liked being a kid, so I have no need to do it again.
What I do love about being around kids is seeing the exact same world in a very different way.
The other night one of my players asked how many innings and outings were left. I chuckled at his vernacular and made a mental note to teach baseball vocabulary at my next practice. Then, I noticed his count of innings and outings kept changing in a way that didn’t make sense to me. When I asked him about this, he told me the numbers were different because the innings changed when you came IN to bat and the outings changed when you went OUT to the field.
Duh.
INings and OUTings.
Of course.
Being young means sometimes being pretty dang smart because you see the world exactly as it’s meant to be seen-in concrete, honest light.
I’ll leave you with this music today on Fun Friday as we prepare to re-open our Jersey Shore. Pay particular notice to my favorite lines, perhaps my favorite lines of any song ever, especially recently when dreams and impossible schemes might be a daily topic ’round these parts. Listen then try to find your own innings and outings this weekend.
Cheers.
For it’s hard, you will find, to be narrow of mind
You can go to extremes with impossible schemes.
You can laugh when your dreams fall apart at the seams.
And life gets more exciting with each passing day.
If you’re young at heart.
P.S. Looking for more parenting guidance and tips for self-care? Check out From Chaos to Calm a guided training to help you feel better in this tough season.
