The end of Little Boy’s first soccer season just happens to coincide with the World Cup. And it’s fair to say that Little Boy’s team lived up to the color of their uniform by being the Brazil of the Kindergarten soccer league: high-scoring, energetic, and good-looking.
The spring season commenced at the beginning of May. During the fall season, Little Boy proved to possess the skills of a great soccer player (good foot agility, nice left-foot kick, defensive instincts, decent sprint speed) but didn’t really show much aggression and hustle during the games, and only scored goals during practice.
UNTIL Mr. P and I proposed a little incentive plan. One goal=one toy.
And, we created a monster. A ball-hogging, close-dribbling, elbow-jutting monster. He scored two goals the next game. The game after that (against the formidable Red team) he failed to score a goal, and cried… and cried… but he atoned for it during today’s game, when he scored two goals and had the coach’s jaw dropping in amazement: Was this the same kid who used to hang back and stare at the ball, waiting for it to come to him?
Action!
Assertive!
Good Sportsmanship!
Team photo!
After the game and the end-of-season party, I took Little Boy to the toy store for his reward, feeling like the worst parent ever. I’m bribing him to score goals. I’m teaching him that something is only worth the effort if he has something to gain. I’m setting myself up for endless expensive trips to the toy store.
But then he told me how much he loved playing soccer and scoring goals. He was on Cloud Nine. And I realized the prospect of getting new Chima Legos was just the incentive he needed. He realized he would only score goals if he ventured into the jumble of cleats, fought for the ball, kept it close to him, and kicked it to the goal. Now that he’s felt the elation of victory, hopefully that will be all the incentive he needs next season!
