He Didn't Give Up

Several months ago, Ben saw that our park district was offering an Ozzie Smith baseball camp, 4 hours for 4 days at a local park.  He wanted in.  Family members even gifted him with some money at his birthday to put toward the expense of the camp.  Sunday night, he and I packed up his lunch and made sure all his gear was ready.  He was so excited for camp the next morning he couldn't fall asleep!

So Monday rolled around, and Andrew dropped him off at the diamonds.  Afterwards, when my boy walked in the door I excitedly asked, "How was it?!" and Ben replied "It was awful" and had that look in his eyes, that look that says "I was miserable" and "Why weren't you there for me?"  It killed us both.  From Ben's description, it sounded like he wasn't getting out of it what was intended, and we certainly weren't going to put him through 3 more days of it.  Andrew got in touch with the camp organizers and sought out a refund.

But the beauty of having conversations with people - real conversations, not huffy puffy, selfish, ticked-off words - is that hearts can change.  The camp owner explained why they do activities and drills the way they do, and offered to call Ben's specific coach to relay our concerns.  He asked us to have Ben come one more day to give it another whirl and if he didn't love it, he would give us a refund.  Last night Andrew talked to Ben, told him what the coaches wanted him to try doing, and they prayed about it.  And guess what?

My boy had an awesome day today!!!  He won the ground ball game and got a couple of great hits.  I asked him what was better today, and he said everything.  I couldn't tell him enough how proud of him I was for not giving up, for trying again with a good attitude, and succeeding.  I think he's proud of himself too.

We're learning how to navigate the new waters of having a slightly older child now.  It's still very important to advocate for him and protect him, but it's also good let him face these kinds of difficult situations where he might feel challenged and uncomfortable.  He grew these last two days... because he didn't give up.