The Hunger Games and Sports: It Was A Mom Fail

“We played a game called The Hunger Games today and I lost because I thought we were supposed to work together. . .” my daughter said after school one day.

Mom Fail. . .

Um, yes. I have not schooled my 11-year-old child in popular dystopian young adult fiction that features prominently the killing of others. She was clueless as to how the game should be played. Frankly- I have no idea how this game is played but having read the books and watched the movies I have a vague idea.

(*Note- I own the Hunger Games series of books and she is welcome to read them. I’m not sure she is ready for them and I’ve told her when she wants to, she may read them. They are a series of books that I think are worth reading and discussing with your child but I’d prefer to wait a couple more years.)

This conversation, in turn, led me to think about all those sports I had neglected to teach her. . .

Another Mom Fail. . .

She knows Hockey, Basketball, and Swimming to some extent, but what about Kickball, a staple of my childhood? Soccer our kids tried and neither cared for. Football and Baseball- they bore me to tears (sorry not sorry!) Something like LaCrosse or the fact that the rest of the world outside of the U.S. calls Soccer, Football? She has no clue. This is my child who likes exercise and sports. Her Mom has never been the athletic kind.

I was always more content to pick up a book and read. Or bake. I’ve always preferred the house to the outdoors.

So dear daughter, I apologize that I haven’t taught you more about the world of sports and I am SO thankful that middle school P.E. exposes you to all different kinds of sport and opportunities for new things, because I have often failed to introduce you to everything I should.

A side bonus for me not introducing you- I don’t have to sit in the rain at your games in Seattle because it always rains here.

17 thoughts on “The Hunger Games and Sports: It Was A Mom Fail

  1. “They are a series of books that I think are worth reading and discussing with your child but I’d prefer to wait a couple more years.”

    I bought these books for myself to read, and maybe to share with the kids later, when they were older (cause I didn’t think they were ready for the subject matter just yet). But life was busy and they went on a shelf, and before I could even read them myself I walk into the living room one day and my oldest was HALF WAY THROUGH the first book! Oh well! At that point, I’m not going to take the book away…I just had to hurry up and catch up so I could talk with him about it. Made for some wonderful conversations…and we both ended up watching the movies together too (just us, not little brothers…of course), so it was a bonding experience too. Good memories!

    (Not that I’d recommend this for 11…but it was a happy accident).

  2. That side bonus is so funny! My kids are just now getting to the age to play sports. So, I know that soon my days will be spent on the sidelines of some field. I never played any sports growing up. I was always very athletic and “tomboyish” but the cost was too high. So, I have zero experience as a sports family. Yet, I have some friends whose life sound insane with all the sports schedules. Thanks for sharing with us at #LiveLifeWell.

    1. I think it’s probably a choice of what is important to you. For my mother, for me, music is important. So we’ve made sure that our children were involved and had access to it.

  3. LOL, too funny! I have spent many an hour at freezing cold baseball games! They definitely have their place, but with the youngest, we are opting out! LOL.

    Thanks for linking up @LiveLifeWell!

    Blessings,

    Amy @ The Quiet Homemaker

  4. Oh, man, I spent so many cold and rainy hours watching my nephews’ soccer games and I’m sorry but it’s hard to consider it a sport. The hours watching my cousins’ football and baseball games went much faster it seemed. I can’t imagine having to do that in Seattle. She knows hockey, fantastic. Maybe some kind of dance or martial arts would work as well as a sport. I didn’t take dance until high school and I sure wish I’d started sooner.
    It’s hard to say when to let your kid read those books, they were pretty intense but captivating. I would have been all over them at that age, what kind of things did you read at 11?

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