IT"S JUST TEE BALL!!!

The day has arrived for our Canon to finally be in organized sports. He has waited what seems his whole life. None of the other kids have done much in the way of sports. Zion tried a couple of seasons of baseball, but as he told in no uncertain terms, he is more of a science kid.
With organized sports comes some very enthusiastic parents. VERY ENTHUSIASTIC. I received an email from one of the moms recently that asked if we wanted to get mom hats, you know more girly looking, probably some bling to it. Ok I'm in. Why not? Until I found out such hats were going for $28. I gasped and Marck kept trying to tell me that it's a decent price for a hat, after all he paid about that for each Rangers hat he owns. Ok, let me remind all of you and my husband, IT"S JUST TEEBALL!!! A Rangers hat at $28 a pop seems reasonable for a pro team that actually went to the World Series. That much for a tee ball team that doesn't even keep score seems ridiculous. Don't even get me started on the not keeping score and giving everyone a chance to play. I had that kid on the team that didn't do well, having him lose taught him great things. Mainly he was not cut out to play ball.
So no hat for me. After the hat email comes the t-shirt email. Ok a t-shirt would be probably more reasonable, I'll get that.  Seriously people in this town have money flowing out places I shouldn't say here in this blog. A blingy t-shirt was now going to run me $35. Dang, should have gotten the hat.
After I ranted and raved to Marck and shouted my phrase, say it with me friends,"IT"S JUST TEEBALL!!", something occurred to me.  I used to say I would do anything for my kids.  Apparently I have a cap on the things I'll do for them.
I know my rantings seem ridiculous, but I can not get used to the crazy money spent on things related to our kids. Here's how the whole organized sports cost breaks down in Weir,TX:
$75 to signup
$40 at Academy for cleats and a glove
$80 to the coach for various goods, helmet, pants, belt, ect
$30 for a Rough Rider game the team is going to
For a total of $225, on tee ball related things. For the cost of our tee ball experience we could have gone on a mini vaca.
Now I will admit the game was optional, I could have saved there. Particularly since we are going 2 days later for a Children's Hospital event. Oh well.
The outfit totals $120, which by the way is Canon clothes budget for 3 months. Hope he like his uniform. :-)
Imagine if all 4 of my kids were in a sport. Let's hear it for the science geeks!!
In a world of over spending and mortgage crisis, I can't help but wonder if the crisis and being in debt wasn't spurred on by these types of purchases. Marck used to help folks with loan modification and I always wanted him to ask the people, " did you make a bunch of stupid purchases? Like having kids in sports??". He never would and that's why he did the job he did and I stay home with our kids. I lack in compassion.
In our nation we have to have everything that presents itself before our eyes. We just can't say no. We must fit in and do what the culture is calling us to do.
I will likely be the only mom without the blingy outfit tomorrow as we hit the ball field. *sigh* Hopefully my tightwad-ness will not send Canon into therapy. Hopefully he will see I was unwilling to spend an extra $70 in exchange for being wise with our money and not as a mom who has no team spirit. Which actually I don't because again, it's just tee ball and they don't keep score!! Ahh, so maybe he will be disappointed that I am not wearing  Scrappers wear. Maybe he will be in therapy. It's a good thing I'm saving that money then! :-)