Beyond the Blue Line

My oldest son fell in love with hockey at around the age of 2. We had no idea where this love came from, it was just always there. He wanted pucks in his stocking for toys and while skating on his own was work when he was 3, put a stick in his hand and it suddenly became fun. Because of this love we knew that we would put him in hockey when he was old enough to play. The past 5 years on the ice have certainly been an eye opening experience into a world I never really knew existed (I played piano growing up).

Hockey is certainly an exciting sport to be a part of, but it also an expensive one. We now have 2 on the ice and a third one declaring she wants to play when she is in kindergarten too. My husband I have to plan our budget carefully, saving year round to allow them the opportunity to play. Hockey is an expensive sport, there's no doubt. We have to be real about it too. We view hockey as a fun community to be a part of where our kids get plenty of exercise. We want them to do well, but you can get carried away. So many families put so much money into hockey. They buy specialized sticks and gear. They put their kids into all sorts of extra clinics and leagues above and beyond their regular team. I spoke to one mother recently who told me she spends $10 000 on hockey for just one of her children to play (and she has 3 who take part). Personally, I can't imaging spending that much money on one child for sports. There are other opportunities that we want for our children too.

Thinking long term, I want to give our children the opportunity to take post-secondary education. That's why from day 1 of our children's lives we have invested in RESP's with CST Canadian Scholarship Trust. Each month CST automatically withdraws money from our account and invests it for us, allowing us to save for our kids' futures. Life is all about balance. Absolutely, we love having hockey be part of our children's lives. We also know that it isn't everything in life. Here are some facts about balance from CST:

• 89% (of parents, surveyed by CST) believe it is important for parents in Canada to help their child pay for their post-secondary education 
• Three out of five Canadian parents (61 per cent) say they, or someone they know, have borrowed money or used their retirement savings to put a child through hockey or other extracurricular activities. 
• 36% believe paying for extracurricular activities like hockey is more important before saving for post-secondary education  

CST recognizes the need for balance between extra curricular activities and saving for our children's  futures.  That is why they are inviting the hockey communities (teams and associations) to tell them what they are doing for their community and to encourage the educational success amongst their players.  They will get a chance to compete for $10 000 to go towards their program and help alleviate the cost of hockey for their families.  You can find out more about this program at www.beyondtheblueline.ca

I think it is a fantastic opportunity for all of us hockey families to think about balance amongst their community.  I hope you do take the time to check it out.

Disclosure: I am part of the C.S.T. Consultants Inc. – Beyond the blue line blogger program with Mom Central Canada and I receive special perks as part of my affiliation with this group. The opinions on this blog are my own.”
 

Summer Sports

My oldest child is an athlete, there's no doubt about it. My husband and I parent our kids believing that they need to be active and involved. We don't want them over-programmed, but we don't want them just sitting around either. Finding something for our first child to do in the fall and winter months was very easy, hockey. He LOVES hockey. I mean the kind of love where he played with pucks at the age of 3 and would rather watch NHL videos than the latest offering from Nickelodeon. He's been playing hockey officially since kindergarten and it's been great. He stays fit and active and he's made a great group of friends. (We have too, nothing like hockey parent camaraderie in a bone-chillingly-cold arena in the middle of January).
Spring and summer sports have been a little trickier. Usually, we put our kids in spring swimming lessons. They are timed well, beginning at the end of hockey season and finishing before school gets out. But what about summer? Should they be involved in summer sports too? My son started with soccer. Of course soccer. Soccer is the go-to summer sport. More kids play soccer than any other summer sport. It's so popular that our town offers two leagues, each league running multiple same aged teams at 3 fields each in different parts of the city. So soccer it was, the summer he was 4.

My son's first experience with organized sports - 2008

And it was...okay.  He liked it well enough, but I found it frustrating.  It wasn't very well organized.   Communication wasn't great.  And he didn't really love it.  It was hard to leave a day out at the beach to come home to soccer.  We did try soccer with him again when he was in going into grade one, an indoor league, and that confirmed it.  Soccer just wasn't his sport.
So we crossed soccer off the list.  We did summer swimming instead.   Then the summer after grade one he wanted to try softball.  Softball!  (Here's where the personal bias steps in).  I love, love, love baseball.  I was a big Seattle Mariners fan growing up.  He has great hand-eye coordination.  Softball would be fun.

My son playing softball in the summer of 2011

And it was fun.  I enjoyed it.  He seemed to enjoy it.  The organization was well, pretty terrible really.  But he was good at it.  So I thought good.  Hockey in the winter and Softball in the summer.  Wrong! As spring of grade 2 came closer with softball registration, he decided he would rather try...lacrosse.
Lacrosse?  I knew very little about lacrosse.  But the posters were up at his hockey arenas with NHL players endorsing the sport.  Anything to help his hockey he really, really wanted to give lacrosse a try.  So we did.  Lacrosse was nothing like I was expecting.  It is a very fast, rough sport, but so much fun! I would be happy watching my kids play lacrosse anytime.  We loved it.

Lacrosse in 2012

So I thought we had a plan, a new plan.  Hockey in the winter and lacrosse in the summer.  Wrong!  This spring we began to talk about summer plans and he had a new idea.  Yes, he liked lacrosse, yes, he liked softball, but what he really loved was hockey.  And couldn't he go to a hockey camp?  Summer hockey?  Isn't that just what those crazy hockey parents do?  Put their child into summer hockey?  And isn't it crazy expensive?  So we thought about it and researched it.  Absolutely there are some crazy pressure expensive summer options out there, but we found something else.  We found a 4 on 4 league.  A no-pressure game every week for 10 weeks with the same kids at a reasonable cost.
If I had any doubts about summer hockey they were erased the first night he came home from it.  He was beaming, truly happy.  He loved it.  4 on 4 is different than regular season hockey.  There are no face-offs and the on ice players switch at the buzzer every 3 minutes so they get a lot of on-ice time in their hour. 

Summer 2013 - 4 on 4 Summer Hockey

I guess when you love something as much as he loves hockey, there's nothing else. 
Incidentally, my other kids play a summer sport too, soccer.  They love it.

my 3 and 6 year old post-soccer

 

Hockey Night

I let my boys stay up tonight for game 5 of the Stanley Cup Finals.  As a family we cheer for Vancouver, but my oldest also loves Boston (who knew peer pressure would end up with such a hockey affiliation).  As the game was starting and I was listening to the Hockey Night in Canada opening I had such an overwhelming rush of sentimentality wash over me.  30 years ago that would have been my brother and I on the couch watching on our parents' old 12 channel TV.  HNIC was family time.

30 years later it does my heart some good to know we are all still watching.  The venues and styles have changed somewhat...my boys and I on the east coast watching the game streamed on my Mac, my parents on the west coast watching on CBC on their flatscreen and my brother in Taiwan watching on his specialty sports channel, it is still family time.  

My boys staying up for the game, my 6 year old conked out at about 9:20 and my 8 year old made it to just past Coaches Corner before we made him go to bed.

March Break for a Hockey Mom

While many friends are saying hello to sunny beaches or outlet malls, this March Break we are all about hockey.  With 2 in hockey this was bound to happen sooner or later.  My oldest (8) is really taking up most of our hockey time, but my littler guy (5) has his own this week too.  Our March break started off like this:
Saturday - J hockey at 9, E hockey game at 10:45 - different arenas in different cities (half an hour away)
Sunday - E hockey academy at yet another arena

And continues on like this:
Monday - E hockey practice at yes, that's right the 4th arena
Tuesday - our day off - twoonie matinee at the theatre with friends (Rise of the Guardians)
Wednesday - E - hockey academy at lunch, followed by regular hockey practice at supper, followed by an evening of watching our local hockey team with E's hockey team, and they are picking up the Chuck A Pucks at the 2nd intermission
Thursday - E - hockey tournament, yet another arena
Friday - E - more of the same tournament
Saturday - E hockey practice at 8:15, J hockey at 9 - different arenas, different cities
Sunday - E hockey academy
Total arenas: 6
Total towns: 4
Happy March Break everyone! 

 

Hockey Mom times 2

Yep, that's right I now have 2, count 'em 2 hockey players in the family.

My big boy, playing Novice 2

My little boy starting IP 1

I am loving this dual hockey thing.  So far, so good.  Very busy though.  We've had several Saturdays now where we are at the first rink on the ice at 9-10 for one and then a run across town to have the second on the ice for 10:45.  Next week we have lucked out with back to back ice times at the same rink starting at 7:45.  (Kinda wondering what this will be like in 3 years if my daughter decides she wants to play too)
What I am amazed with in watching my youngest is thinking back on how for my oldest has come in 3 years of hockey.  He was the wobbly footed 5 year old skater, proud as punch to have a stick in his hand.  He's now faster footed that any of us in the family and has that hockey stride going on.  Where my 5 year old is figuring out how to push the puck down the ice, my 8 year old is working on a fairly decent and accurate wrist shot.  My youngest is starting to skate backwards a little, and my oldest skates backwards with confidence to play defense.  I'm really impressed with the coaching for both boys this year.  My little guy gets the small group attention that a beginning skater needs.  My oldest has noticed that practices have been kicked up a notch and they are drilling him hard and it is paying off.
So happy hockey season out there fellow hockey moms!  See you at the arena with a cup of Tim's in your hand :)