First Swim Meet

First swim meet of the season was tonight. Jordan lasted about 20 minutes at the meet and then she wanted to go home, so Jeff took her home and I stayed with the boys.

The boys did great at the meet, although I think they were tired and Devon has been sick.

I had an interesting time at the meet and I asked the boys "Why do you think things like this always happen to me?" Jared said "because you are the only one that bothers to get involved."

I am not sure if that is a good thing, although in this case it was. There was a parent from the other team, who was angry at some of our swimmers and he started yelling at them. When I looked over he was yelling at an age coach and the other kids were walking away. I learned that he was yelling at the kids because they had been throwing water and they got the back of his pants wet. (he had asked them to stop throwing water and I had said something to them as well) The reason he was yelling at the age coach was because she was protecting our swimmers and all he heard her say was "Coach" so he thought she was an adult.

Of course me being the person I am, I had to step in. When he started yelling at me I just could not take it anymore. I was like you are yelling and angry because kids were fooling around and your pants got wet. I tried very hard to stay calm and when he would not stop yelling I lost it a little and yelled back, maybe not the best decision I have made, I really wanted to say “Dude, it is water on your pants and you are in a pool area, chill out! There are so many more things that are important in life.” I did not say that I said “I will talk to the swimmers and make sure they know not to throw water anymore.”

You would think that would be the end of it right, well no. As I am talking to the swimmers he tries to listen and then yells at me again because he thinks I am making light of a very serious situation. Again “Dude it is WATER.” Thankfully one of the other parents backed me up and the guy left.

About ½ hour later I am going out in the hall to take care of something else and what do you know, the guy stops me again. Now I am like “Really do you have nothing better to do”. Basically he did not feel that I handled the situation the way it should have been handled. So I looked at him and said “Of course I am going to back my swimmers when a parent, one that I don’t know, is screaming at them. She is a high school student that was trying to apologize and you were yelling at her. There is nothing more I can do and it is over.” After all that I think he still left angry that it was not taken care of to his satisfaction.

Life is too short to worry about water on your pants. It will dry and you pants will probably be fine. I guess for me, I don’t think you should yell at kids because they are acting like kids. Also, I know how precious life is. I hope that he goes home and realizes that everything will be okay. I pray that God helps him find his way because again it is only WATER.

I understand that some of you may not agree with me, and that kids should be yelled at or reprimanded over this, you are entitled to your opinions and if you are ever in this situation you can handle it how you fell is best.

Thanks for all the love, support and prayers!

Good Night and God Bless!