40代の母親ナナコは、長男のサッカーの成績が伸び悩んでいることに悩んでいる。夫は子どもの習い事ぐらいで楽しむべきだと言い、親の関与は距離を置くべきだと話す。しかし、ナナコは長男のために何をすればいいかわからず、自らも何かやりがいを感じたいと思っている。夫は野球経験があり、子どもがプレイするのは自身であると指摘している。ナナコは親としての役割やバランスを考えながら、長男の将来を心配している。【第3話】へ続く。
Continuation from last time. I (Nanako, in my 40s) live with my husband (Tomohiro, in his 40s) and our two sons, a 5th grader (Yuuki) and a 3rd grader (Shouta). Our eldest son has been playing soccer in a club team since 1st grade. Initially, he enjoyed it as a hobby, but as he progressed in school, the skill gap among team members widened, and now our son is mostly a bench player. He sits on the bench with a dull expression, not participating in self-training or doing much at all. I find myself constantly comparing him to friends and our younger son, and end up making unnecessary comments.
When I say, “He’s not improving at all,” my husband responds with, “If he’s enjoying himself, then that’s enough.” However, when I see the difference between our son who is not a regular player and the other kids who are, I don’t see him enjoying it at all.
“Doesn’t he feel frustrated? All his friends have become regular players. Yet he doesn’t even do self-training. What is he thinking?” I expressed my feelings to my husband. Doesn’t he want to improve? Doesn’t he want to win?
My husband made comments like, “It’s just a kid’s hobby.” Just as I was about to say, “I’m putting in so much effort for our son!”
There is some truth in what my husband says. I don’t like feeling inferior among parents. I wouldn’t mind enjoying myself if our son was a regular player.
Dedicated parents accompany their kids in self-training, give them massages after practice, and strictly manage their meals. Maybe I want some sense of accomplishment from being involved in our son’s activities. Perhaps that’s what I’m thinking.
My husband has experience playing baseball at a prestigious school, so he often says, “I’ve seen all kinds of players.” He’s seen cases where parents deeply involved led to success, but he’s also seen many examples where it didn’t. In the end, the child is the one playing. While parents should be involved, a certain level of distance is necessary. My husband says, “Kids in elementary school should enjoy sports,” but our eldest son doesn’t seem to be enjoying it.
As a parent, I don’t have the answer to what I should do for our eldest son.
To be continued in Part 3.
Original Concept: MamaStar Community, Script: rollingdell, Artwork: Haruno Sakura, Edit: Tsukada Moe