Supportive | But I Smile Anyway...

“Behind every young child who believes in himself, is a parent who believed first.”
Matthew Jacobson

Thank you, Spidey, for finding another great quote to illustrate what I’m thinking today.

Today, we spent around eight hours travelling to, and from, and sitting through, another of Lil Man’s cricket matches, as a family.

(Granted, Lil Princess was dragged, with no interest at all, but she did sit, so props to her for not complaining too much!)

Lil Man loves cricket with a passion. It runs in the family on both sides, with a dad who used to play as a youngster for the district, and an uncle (my brother) who played for Warwickshire county as aa young man, and now is in the Finnish national team.

This year’s season has been hit and miss, what with the Pandemic (as has so much stuff) but a few weeks ago, training resumed and he was so happy. Last week, he played a match, and came awaay quite disheartened, as certain adults were a bit rude to him…

But on Saturday, he was asked to play in his first Men’s match, with the clubs’ 5th team.

We travelled to near Whitstable, in the heat. Whitstable is a seaside town, so we were stuck in traffic, as all the rest of the cars wanted to head for the beach.

Once we arrived, the weather was glorious, and we set out our mats, to sit and watch, as he joined in the game.

He was nervous, slightly, because of the comments last week, but with us there to encourage him, I think it gave him a boost.

He was the last batsman, and finished the innings, with six runs from three bowls, including a four, and was not out.

Bowling is his forte, being a leftie spin bowler, so when they switched over, we waited with bated breath, for them to call him up to bowl.

It took a while, but being a forty-over-each-way match, there were plenty of chances.

He managed to take a catch, clean bowl someone out, and had another batsman run out from one of his bowls, so three wickets out of 9 were his!

Proud parents, we were, sat there, clapping him on.

They lost, but it was a tight finish, and the joy at seeing him being congratulated by the elder, more respected members of the team was heart-warming.

Talking of warming… it was boiling there, and we slathered on the suncream, but I obviously missed a spot, and am now sporting a burnt chest!

And at no time have we doubted his skill.

Lil Man is a fantastic team player. Academics may not be his thing, but sports are. And we, as a family, are right there behind him, cheering him on.

Not least because as a child myself (albeit a grown up one) I know that my own parents have been behind me my whole life, encouraging and pushing me to do what my heart believes, from my teaching, to my writing.

Knowing they believe in me, helps me believe in myself, and this is something I want to pass on to both our children.

So tell me, how do you support your children, or do you have supportive parents?