A Tale of Two Families

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  Last month brought me a new challenge to my perspective on how involved parents could be when their children play sports.

  I help two high school boys with mental disabilities. Let's call them Jack and Josh for the sake of their privacy. Both families are generally nice to me. On 30 January, I was invited to watch one of their basketball games.
 
  First I ran into Jack's family. Jack's family consisted of his mom, dad, older sister, and an older brother who was playing basketball as well that night. (Apparently, Jack and Josh's game was the halftime show of the official varsity game.) As soon as I sat and finished saying hello, the entire family became cold to my presence and intensely focused on the game. When Jack would try to speak to me, his family would immediately quiet him. He was nervous to play, but his dad seemed insistent that he would. By the time I got up and moved to Josh's family, I got a feeling that I wasn't wanted around them.

  Before I could get comfortable to watch the halftime game, Josh's mom already got excited to see me and asked if I wanted some snacks. After I watched the game, Josh and his family made me feel like one of them. His mom and dad chatted while the game cooled down or lulled. His little brother and sister joked with me.

  In the end, it was a tale of two families. And I know who I want to spend more time with.

  ~

  I decided to go to another game this last Thursday (13 February) and it went about the same way. I realized though that a lot of what I was thinking was kind of dependent on how I was feeling. Last month, I was feeling more social and pleasant. This time around, I was a little more tired and just kind of wanting to see my high school friends play without really getting involved in anything else. Both families respected that and seemed to be a bit more neutral with me than last time. It was really nice to see.

  Either way, I realized that part of my observations of the families are just like any of my observations of people: they come in a variety of forms with a random assortment of similarities. In the end, I am happy to see the kids playing and generally get amused with the things going on around them.

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