Tag Archives: soccer

Family Time – Lemons To Lemonade

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Family Time is worth more than money! 

So in this Lemons to Lemonade series, I’m going to cover how to maximize your Family Time with the kids.  In particular, I’m going to describe how we turned the sports our kids are in, from Lemons to Lemonade!

First, let me say that Family Time with your kids is worth more than money!  It’s something that most of us don’t realize until much later in life, so experience and enjoy it as much as you can.  It’s something you can’t buy more of later with money!!!

A friend told my wife that she doesn’t let her kids play sports because she cherishes their family time too much.

This got my wife to think about family time and if sports like soccer was gobbling up too much valuable family time…

She came to the conclusion that it wasn’t and here are the reasons why:

  • Watching and rooting for you kids in sports is great for the entire family.  And it give our kids a confidence boost knowing that the family (including grandparents, aunts and uncles) came out to support them.
  • We have 2 kids, so while one is out, we interact with the other one.  Sometimes, when my son is on the bench for a rotation, we’ll practices soccer stuff with my daughter, and of course vice versa.  Often we have a good time because it gets silly .  This time is enjoyed by all of us!
  • The driving time is practically forced time for the kids to interact with us socially.  Both my wife and I really enjoy the chats in the car when driving the kids to their games!
  • We interact with other parents, and they’ll cheer our kids on (and we cheer their kids on too).  As a kid, I would think it’s extra exciting hearing non-family members cheer for you!
  • Many times, we’ll go out to eat after the games, especially on longer, away games.  This is a treat for us all, in addition to the extra family time we experience.

So the lemons to lemonade process that we accomplished with the kid’s soccer games is to take an activity that could be considered a chore (Mom’s taxi service, etc), and converted it into an excellent opportunity for quality family time!

Often I find that it only takes a little to change a negative to a positive. 

Do you have any lemon to lemonade stories that you would like to share?

-MR

Did you like this kind of story, if so, check out my first in the “Lemon to Lemonade” series: Lemons to Lemonade Series #1 – Long Commute Drives

Also, related to this Lemon to Lemonade series is my guest post on Cash Flow Sherpas called:  Saving Money and Time With Audiobooks!

Great Almost Free Entertainment

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My daughter just finished her last soccer practice session tonight.  She looks so cute out there running around (she’s only 5…).

I especially love it when she scores a goal and looks for a head nod and clapping from us, confirming that she did a great job.  My wife and I, are usually beaming with pride.  But honestly, I don’t really care if she make a goal or not, just as long as she is out there having fun and looking cute.

Typically, at my daughter’s games, my son (9 years old) and I will go up to concession stand and buy hotdogs, coffee, and root beer (my son’s favorite).  It might not be the same as a college or professional football game, but in some ways it feels like it is.  Especially with the team’s parents cheering for all the kids from the sideline.

I say it’s almost free because we have to pay for the soccer session, and clothes, etc.  But if you divide the cost over the games and practices played, it’s still pretty cheap, a lot of bang for the buck.

Sometimes we invite our parents, or our brothers and sisters up to hang with us.  It’s fun for everybody as we discuss what’s the latest news in each other’s lives.

-MR