Grades Are More Important

As you read in a previous post, AJ made The Rock swim team a few months back. We were all so proud of him and though we knew life would be hectic, we thought we could manage. Turns out, we were wrong. 

I am really sad to report that we have taken him off the swim team for the time being because life was just too busy for us. I say this knowing that other families have more kids, more activities and such, but for us- it was too much.

Our schedule normally was this: Wake up by 7, get AJ to school by 8, then pick him up at 4:30, RUSH to get some homework done by 5 at the Rec Center, swim from 5-545, then come home and figure out dinner, unpack all our bags, finish homework, eat dinner, shower, maybe watch a little TV, repack our bags for the next day and then bed by 8:30. This was 4 days a week. AND to top it off, when Jason traveled, we’d be up by 6, out the door by 7 and then do all the rest. 

We were able to do this for a few months but I started to notice a few things. AJ and I were fighting daily. Fighting because I was always trying to rush him to get here, get there, do your homework, eat your dinner, etc.. It was truly one thing to another. I was also noticing AJ wasn’t progressing all that much with swim. Sure, he’s a good swimmer, but we weren’t doing meets and he didn’t really love it. I sat and watched him each night and it seemed to be the same every day. 

The kicker was when he got a D on his math test. This just about killed me. I knew that he knew the answers; he just was rushing and not paying attention. I got to thinking, we rush around all day and we don’t spend any extra time on homework. I wasn’t even really checking it to be sure if it was accurate. I just needed it done. We didn’t practice spelling or extra math and we stopped reading books. By the time it was 7:30, I was spent! (We all were!)

It took me some time to really make the decision to quit. But it does boil down to his grades being more important than sports. So, last week we took a break and you know what happened? He was the nicest, sweetest, kindest boy. We didn’t fight. He didn’t argue. We didn’t rush. We did extra homework and he’s been getting A’s and B’s on his tests. We had a GREAT week! I think we both feel a sense of relief, but I know we both miss swim. He really did enjoy seeing his friends each night. 

So, going forward, he will still do Cruisers this summer- it’s more fun to swim outside anyway! And who knows, maybe he’ll get back on the team next year. Or maybe not. Maybe he’ll do some fun after school classes he has done and enjoyed in the past.

I feel like we made the right decision.