DEAR SOMEONE ELSE’S MOM: After our son was born, we moved back to my husband’s hometown. My parents had retired to Florida, and neither my husband nor I wanted to follow them there, but we both felt it was important to raise our children around family.
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My husband is something of a local celebrity. He played on the high school’s varsity baseball team, which took the state championship the three years my husband was in their pitching rotation. That success got him a full ride for college, and he spent a couple seasons in the Tiger’s farm system before tearing up his pitching arm.
Besides baseball, my husband also played soccer during the fall seasons, and although he wasn’t as successful at that, he was still a key team member and was named to the all-county team in his senior year.
Now our son is a freshman at his father’s old high school, and our nerdy boy is anything but an athlete. I just know there will be high expectations for him to follow in his dad’s footsteps and that just ain’t happening.
This is a small school with a long memory. When we took the welcome freshmen tour this summer, our son was greeted by a trophy case filled with team photos and trophies starring his dad. He thought it was cool, I thought it was just more proof he’ll be expected to win at some competitions other than academic ones, which given his past performance almost everyone can reasonably expect.
My husband thinks he should at least try out for some sports team, which I don’t agree with. Most of the kids in this town play at least rec level sports, which our son has never, ever expressed an interest in.
Who’s right here, my ex-jock husband, or me? --- MOTHER OF A BRAIN, NOT A JOCK
DEAR MOTHER OF A BRAIN, NOT A JOCK: I believe it’s time you and your husband shelve your assumptions about what your son may or may not want to do during his high school career and let him follow his own lead.
His choices may fool you both.