baseball and life lessons

We are in the middle of fall baseball. I am loving it. Bryce has played at this park for several seasons now. I am familiar with the fields, with the schedules, and with a lot of other parents (tends to happen when you have been on 3 different teams). I like familiarity. And I really like that I get to spend a couple of hours with a few moms that I have become friends with over the last 2 seasons. Callie loves baseball too. We made sure that Bryce got on the same team with another boy that has a sister Callie's age. They became instant friends last season and she is very excited to be able to hang out with her again this season. So everyone is excited.....except for the baseball player himself. He started off excited. Then "it" happened. "It" being getting hit in the face with a baseball. "It" has completely changed his view on baseball. He no longer wants to play. He begs me to let him stay home. He tells me he wishes I had signed him up for soccer. The latest is he wants to play tennis because tennis balls are a lot softer. It's so frustrating to see him loathing something that only a month ago was one of his favorite things. So I have stood my ground and not let him quit. And I have told him that the more he plays the less scared he will be. Last night as I was tucking him in he asked "mom, don't you care that I'm scared?". Hard question. Really hard question. After much thought I told him that yes, I do care that he is scared. But one of the best lessons he can learn is to not run from fear. Sometimes you just have to take a deep breath and face your fears. I told him that sometimes you will find that the thing you are scared of isn't scary at all. That it is fun!! And I reminded him how scared he was to ride his bike, which is now one of his favorite things to do. He just shrugged his shoulders and shook his head. Kind of a deep lesson for a six year old. But it's one I hope he learns.

Here are some pictures from the season so far.... and notice that once he gets there he still smiles and has fun!!