‘Football, tennis and ballet class? One sport is the maximum’
“There must also be time left for the family,” he writes on Scary Mommy.
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Four hours of food
Clint is the father of three children. When his oldest son wanted to play basketball and football, he agreed. ‘The training sessions overlapped each other for a month,’ says Clint. “It was the longest month of my life. My son exercised four days a week, which meant we either went to dinner at 4:00 PM or at 9:00 PM. Homework was no longer done. And time with the family? We could completely forget that.’
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Win and lose
‘Don’t get me wrong’, he continues, ‘I think it’s important that our children do extracurricular activities. That could be sports, music, art – whatever. As long as they are doing something and not sitting on the couch all the time. It teaches them to work together and to win and lose.’ But since Clint has three kids, a rule has been established: a maximum of one sport. ‘Does my daughter want to take ballet? Fine. Prefer athletics? Also fine. But if you start it, you finish it. One activity is the maximum.’
‘Make time for the family’
The reason? Quality time with the family. Clint: ‘In addition to all those sports clubs, we also have to be able to lead a family life. I want to see my wife, we need to be able to visit friends and go shopping. If we are too busy with the children and keep driving from sports club to music lessons, there is no time left for that. Hence the rule: 1 activity. Don’t say my wife and I are bad parents. Or that we don’t let our children chase their dreams. We understand how important it is that they can play football or dance, but we also know how important family time is.’
