I saw a beautiful kickball game today.
OK, I know that “beautiful” + “kickball” don’t always show up in the same sentence but bear with me:
This afternoon, I walked outside to the back of our weekly homeschool coop and saw a bunch of kids—ranging in age from about six to fifteen—running and laughing. One of the boys—around eight years old—breathlessly told me, “This is the Best Game Ever!!!“
I wondered what game they must’ve invented to make it the “best game ever”.
Turns out, they were just playing kickball.
What made it beautiful though were all the different ages playing together.
Where they competitive? Hell, yeah. Except when they weren’t, like when a sweet three-year-old in a dress asked if she could kick. Then, they were gentle, even the boys who were at that age when sometimes gentle can be trumped by the desire to win.
At one point, my six-year-old son (D) was sitting on second base, apparently tired out by all the activity of the morning. The teenager “pitched” the ball and the kick went sailing over his head, straight past my son.
With a lazy wave of his foot, D stopped the ball from sailing past, without getting up off his butt.
I waited for the older boys to chide him for sitting when he should obviously been on his feet, trying to stop the ball, trying to win. Instead, the teen laughed and said, “NICE stop!” and congratulated him on doing it without having to get up off the ground.
I’m fortunate to see a lot of teens like this every week. Sweet, friendly, happy teens who make me feel good about my chances of raising the same. It makes my heart swell.
And it turns a regular kickball game into the best, most beautiful, game ever.
The best game ever
April 25, 2011
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I was thinking the exact same thing about their game. Before you came out, they were throwing it to Noah and running the bases with him…he had the time of his life. It's awesome.
That is how I always feel about the school my girls go to. The 8th graders are always so nice to the smaller kids and take time for them. And often at basketball games, there will be a circle of 7th and 8th graders, with my 1st grader sitting in the mix. They definitely take into consideration the younger kids and are not bothered by them.
What a beautiful tribute when so many think kids have no redeeming qualities! I miss the days of my youth when we played like this regularly. Sigh.
Awesome! I very rarely see anything like this–it's usually either a very age-segregated world or a world ruled by unruly tweens bullying little ones.
I'm glad you shared this story! 🙂
That sounds like the best part of community that exists.
I do like the mixed ages at the homeschool groups. I need to join another one to get more interactions, I think. I don't know. I need a change. Summer, get here NOW!