When you have a child, there are responsibilities that come with it. Some in which most of us quite frankly would rather bite our big toe off than do but nonetheless, you do them. They cry in the middle of the night, you get up, feed them, and rock them back to sleep. You take them to the doctor. When they get teeth, you brush their teeth and take them to the dentist.
Typical parenting responsibilities, right?
When they enter school, you get them to school on time. You also have to help them with their homework. (Personally, my least favorite) When they are also school age, they may want to start doing something called “athletics.” It may be tee-ball, cheerleading, basketball, football, or any other sport known. Yet when they (or you) decide this is the route you want to take, there is a new responsibility that come with this decision.
**Working the Concession Stand**
This is the one where people feel it’s optional, but it’s not. It’s just like anything else with parenting- You signed the line, you do to your time.
You signed the line to leave the hospital with him or her when they were born- you do your 18 plus years of time.
You signed the line at the midget league sign up day- you do your time in the concession stand.
It’s. That. Simple.
I’m the first one to tell you, I loathe the concession stand. However, if I’m told I need to sign up and do three games, I do three games. I dread it before, during, and after (because I know I’ll have to do it again) but I do it anyways.
Being a Parent is a Constant Sacrifice, One of those Sacrifices is – The Concession Stand –
I get it. You want to watch your kid. I want to watch my kid too. Ask grandma to work it for you. Heck, pay a relative. The point is, that each child has an adult working their allotted time in the concession stand. In doing that, it allows every parent the equal amount of time sacrificing and enjoying the game. When you are the parent not doing your time, everyone else is picking up your slack and that everyone else is typically me (because I can’t say no).
Furthermore, signing your child up to play sports is not your new babysitting service- it’s a new responsibility you just signed up for and it’s called “THE CONCESSION STAND.”
I said all of that to say all of this……
If you signed the line – do your time because being a parent to a kid in sports means working the concession stand, period.
Love you friends
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Oh my! Don’t forget about the ticket booth, scoreboard, line judge, towel tapper, water runner and the list goes on. I must admit I’ve been known to abandon my post at concessions for the 5 min it takes my kid to run his 4 laps around the track…but Hey! I’ll cover for you when it’s your kids turn too. 🙂
Yes it does.. However the concession is the one that drives me craziest! 🙂
Amen!! I actually enjoy working it and chatting with the other parents. I also help run it sometimes. This. This is what I don’t enjoy. Running it, working it and cleaning it up. It sucks when there are families who don’t even work it 😕
As a booster club president for a high school, it isn’t just the concession stand we want your help in. We just want parents involved to help raise money to provide better equipment, training aids and other things the schools will not provide. Most of the time booster are ran by small numbers and do alot, but if we have 5 people and we raise $90,000 with the help of the coaches then imagine what we could do with 25 parents. We could raise more funds and give the coaches more time to work with the kids without the worries of having to help raise money for that piece of equipment or uniform
I’m good with paying my work bond and watching my kid play. If they want it to be mandatory, they shouldn’t give the option.
We don’t get a buy out option. Therefore we are asked to work our part. Unfortunately, not everyone does.
I don’t understand how people think this should be a mandatory thing. Must of the sports these days aren’t free. I don’t sign my kid up so I can’t watch him play. End of story. I can eat before and after the games. That is my stance.
Nope no reason to do it at all. All the school is worried about is money. So go find other people to do it.
When my kids were in sports, the parents traded off time slots so everyone got to watch their child/children. I did concession, uniform handouts and washed many of them, kept score, and even helped with coaching when needed. I managed to watch all 3 of my kids participate in every practice, game and match they were in. Parent participation is a must. You don’t want to help? Don’t …… BUT ….. Pay double the regular fee and stay away from the concession stand if you get hungry or thirsty, because I WILL throw your drink at you!
A thought –
With starting NWMK in 05 (labor of love) most of my time was spent at the field. I also ran middle & high school concessions (purchasing, stocking & staffing) from 02 thru 12. 3 children that played 3 sports from middle school thru high school, we were always volunteering 😍
One thing we found that worked really well was asigning times for volunteers so they didn’t work during their child’s field time.
I must admit, it wasn’t flawless but we always had workers.
We found that it was more difficult for single parents, grandparents raising grandkids, both parents working in cooperate, finding a working solution was imperative…
Go Knights!
Love your blog, do you have a YouTube Channel as well?
Thank you. No, I sure don’t.