Would I lose my "Mom of the Year" award if I...

I wish it.  

I think it.

I say it out loud (not to the kid, of course).

And I've definitely done it.

I'm of the belief that my saying to my kid "I just can't hack it today" once or twice over the course of their life will not ruin our relationship.  My oldest is 18.  He still loves me.  He knows I love him.

Stay home and enjoy your AC.

You should do what you want. Meet them for ice cream after the game.

Were you a contender for Mother of The Year? "I coulda been a CONTENDER..."

Nope, you are totally allowed to not go. You'll all survive and everyone will be happier if you're happy.

Miss Lerins Momma, I am in Kentucky as well and you are totally allowed to miss one activity in this muggy heat. Oy, it is smothering out there.

Sometimes I would LOVE to be able to sleep in on a Sunday morning instead of having to get up early (well, early for a Sunday) to go to my son's football. Especially when it's COLD like it is here now. But there's too much mummy guilt.


Tomorrow it's going to be really cold but I will still have to go - I'm on canteen duty. 

Exactly that.

My son plays travel ball. Dd and dh are in love with the sport, so the three of them are as happy as can be going all weekend. I tolerate it. Thursday through Sunday, 6+ games a weekend, in the heat......thank God they have nachos.

I'm the proud mom of a football player in northern Virginia. We start playing real games at the end of August and if we are "lucky", we go through the first of December with tournaments. So at the beginning of the season, it can be 90 and sunny and by December it will be in the 40 and "please God, don't let it rain." DS is a senior this year and I've been to every game. But I will work the concession stand to get warm some days. The heat is horrible, but it makes me lethargic. The heat is worse because I want to move around.

Now that I'm done with my whining, what I wanted to say was to get yourself a FrogTog. They are cooling cloths that are cool when wet and they really do work! Wear it around your neck or wrist. I got it for DS, but he can't even wear them in practice if they are scrimmaging because nothing extra is allowed for contact sports. So I took it and it helps a lot. I bought mine from Amazon, but I saw them at Dick's yesterday. I've also been known to put small blue ice packets in my pockets.

Well, that didn't take long for the new 2peas to make me feel like a shitty mom. I made it to about 95% of my dd's games. She now does band, and I only go to once competition each season (marching band, symphonic band, winter and fall drumline, and jazz band). I usually go to the championship competition as that is when they are at their best. If I went to them all I'd be going to various schools almost every weekend during the school year. I love my kid, and she loves me, but I have a life outside her. She's well aware that my life doesn't revolve around her. I suppose that makes me a shitty mom, and she will probably grow up to be a serial killer.

I loved going to all my kids' sporting event with the exception of softball. I would honestly rather watch paint dry than a girls' softball game. Drying paint had more action. My dh and I used to draw straws to see who got to go to our son's baseball games vs our daughter's softball games. Lucky for us, our daughter totally understood. She would often say she wished she could go to her brother's games, as hers were a total bore, even for her. lol Basketball was her sport, and you would have to fight me to keep me away for those games! Now that she is 21, is she scared from her childhood? Most assuredly, but not from us missing a softball game here or there.

Depending on the age, I don't think its necessary to attend every game. DD has cheered the past few years through middle school. We start fundraising in summer, they have practice 6 days a week the first few months of school, then football games start. You finally get a break around Thanksgiving then its on to basketball, several games per week, never the same times or days, so its impossible to make other plans. Some coaches take their teams to multiple competitions per year, which means 6 days per week practice until the last competition of the season sometime in the Spring. This is a lot for a stay at home mom of one, much less a mom trying to hold down a job, take college classes, or raise multiple kids.

Admittedly, unless its the tournament, I try to arrange a ride for DD with someone else for the far away games. Football games in the rain and cold, I just can't do. I have sat in the car waiting for some to end. Not to mention that parents still have to buy tickets, so it gets expensive. DD couldn't care less, I always make sure she has money for concessions at half time and whatever she needs packed in her bag; we attend all the games where they do any kind of player or parent recognition. She's not going to cheer her Freshman year, but the local high school is literally on top of a mountain and football games are bitter cold with biting wind. I have back problems and can barely handle bleachers normally, much less when they feel like blocks of ice. She knows if she cheers later on, I will make it to the first few warm football games and the local basketball games.

DD understands that its fun for her to socialize, cheer the games and show off, but that I don't enjoy the games themselves and am there mainly to support her. She doesn't expect me to hold her hand through every single one. Even she is sick of them by the end of the season.

I think it's perfectly acceptable to not be there every game the entire season as long as your kid is provided for and you have planned ahead for transportation, etc.

I read stuff like this and feel like a shitty mom because I feel zero guilt over missing games or recurring events.