Despite being the runt of the litter, when I was a child, I played all kinds of sports. Back in L.A. (Lower Alabama) our mainstays were baseball and football, with a smattering of other sports. But back then, soccer wasn’t respectable and you can forget about any other European-inspired sport such as lacrosse.
My mom was bit of a health-food hippie nut and in an effort at bulking me up for football, she was forever making me drink concoctions made up of milk, brewer’s yeast, lecithin and Lord knows what else (no sugar of course). I don’t care what you put in it, it always came out tasting like the backside of a piece of bubble gum that someone peeled off their car’s undercarriage. It was nasty! And she didn’t even have the common decency to blend up a banana in there or anything. Despite her efforts, I remained a short, skinny thing that lost more teeth than I can remember during football scrimmage, and who inevitably was lying on the field picking grass outta my helmet while the other team was doing the victory dance in the endzone.
So before practice and games I was drinking disgusting things, and during the game, we were lucky if we got cold water to drink. I remember playing an “away” game one time and they served us Gatorade during the game. We thought we were in heaven–we had reached the pinnacle of sports greatness! The next week it was back to lukewarm water, but oh for that one day we were football GODS!
Now, it’s my son’s turn to start playing sports. This weekend MLI starts T-ball at the local YMCA. The team consists of six boys (I guess an injury won’t really be a season-ender for the team) and they practice AND play for a whole hour each Sunday. The coach sent out an e-mail announcement on Monday introducing himself and as an “Oh yeah, before I forget…” he tossed out there that we parents needed to talk amongst ourselves and figure out the snack schedule.
Come again?
The snack schedule? What, they can’t play for an hour without needing sugary snacks and beverages?
OK, OK, I admit, I wasn’t completely caught off-guard about this, but it wasn’t until CareerMom admitted that she didn’t know what the etiquette was for bringing snacks, that I got online and found out that this whole snack bringing thing is nothing short of a disaster waiting to happen. I mean, it appears that a parent’s whole future standing in the community could be based on their first snackage provision.
So, I prostrate myself before you, oh parents of the community. Give me your wisdom. Do I worry about peanut allergies? Do I try and do something healthy or do I give the kids what they really want? Do I care what others think? Do I bring enough snackage for the players AND any brothers and/or sisters who might tag along?
Help me PLEASE!
Postulates & Pastimes 
Hmm…trail mix is always popular and healthy, but if it has any nuts in it you will be shunned…there is a whole episode of Everybody Loves Raymond which is actually dedicated to what snacks they were supposed to bring to the T-ball game for the boys! Hahahha…in the end I think boring stuff like apple slices and cheese strings were a safe bet…or nut-free granola bars…good luck! 🙂
Re: Apples and cheese, while an excellent selection from the food pyramid, won’t
buygarner my child any friends. Which is partly what this whole excercise in sportsmanship futility is about (I mean come on, they play their first game the first time most of them have been introduced to T-ball?? WTH?). I’m thinkin’ maybe some fruit, yes, along with some individual snack packs of something nuther. I don’t know. No other parent has raised their hand for this weekend’s game, so it may be us after all.I would definitely be concerned about peanut allergies. My best friend’s son has a peanut allergy, and seeing the fear she has to deal with about church and gym daycare’s serving food scares the bajeezus out of me.
I would go for something mostly healthy, but I don’t mind being disliked. Something nutri-grain bar-ish?? And I would definitely not feed everybody’s sibling (once again, not afraid of being disliked).
I agre with you…bring your kid a snack yourself if you don’t think they can go an hour without food. Ugh to mandatory extra work for parents.
RE: I’m pretty much nixing snacks for siblings. What do I care if they toddled around the bleachers and got a little hungry? But good Lord with the peanut allergies. I know it’s a big deal for some people, but it’s almost like opening a business and having to spend more time and money building handicap ramps and extra large bathroom stalls. Personally, I think that if your child has special eating needs, it’s the parent’s responsibility to make sure they are taken care of. I sure wouldn’t expect some random stranger to have covered all the special needs’ bases! (no pun intended).
Cold fresh fruit and small water bottles or a thermos of ice water and some small paper cups is always a fav at our soccer games.
And we encourage snacks for siblings.
How about homemade rice crispies treats? They are cheap, easy, and I’ve never met a kid (or adult) who turned their nose up at those.
I can not believe they just do not have parents bring snacks for their own child!! It seems like too much with all the allergies and different tastes of children.
But if I had to I would go with muffins–blueberry, banana, chocolate chip and cinnamon chip. Then put a label that states there may be peanut product etc. Let them eat at their own risk. If a child has allergies I would expect the parents to have a snack on hand–just in case. I know I would.
Take Care
Rose
Re: I told “At Home Daddy” the same thing. If my kid had some life-threatening allergy, I would never expect someone else to be prepared to accomodate him/her. I’d by golly bring my own stuff.