Too many times I have said "CLARK! DO NOT TOUCH YOUR SISTERS FOR ANY REASON!"
In all fairness, I also say, "GIRLS! DO NOT TOUCH CLARK-- YOU WILL GET HURT!"
And yet the pattern of teasing, provoking, rough-housing continues. It frequently ends in tears. Usually.
Wrestling season is well underway and Clark had a tournament this evening. The boys are matched up by grade and relative size. Clark lost the first match by points but wasn't pinned. They had a short break and it came time for his second match. Abe quickly came over to tell me that Clark had been matched up with A GIRL!!!!!
My son, the one I have told ten zillion times to NOT TOUCH THE GIRLS! The one I have told to KEEP HIS HANDS TO HIMSELF! The one who I signed up for wrestling so he wouldn't be tempted to injure the girls is now suppose to wrestle a girl???
Oh, give me strength!
My first thought is to send Abe back with a message to Clark--- "Show no mercy!"
I know, I know, how charitable of me.
It's just that if the young lady wants to wrestle with the boys. . .
Well, that is for another post another day.
My second thought was to pray. Even though I think it's dumb to pray to win a sporting event. Pray to do your best, but pray to win?? Anyway, I pray, "Please let Clark win this match". This was his fourth wrestle and he hadn't won yet. I want him to like wrestling because it's a good outlet for him and great exercise.
Oh, and he's wrestling a girl so in his own words, "If I lost I would be shamed forever". His wrestling career would have ended after only 4 matches.
She was a big girl. I mean, Clark is a big kid, but he looked downright skinny compared to some of these bigger boys (and this girl).
The first match this evening I was really nervous. I hadn't seen Clark wrestle yet and if you haven't been to a wrestling match before, it is intense! One guy facing off against one guy to see who can dominate. It's so raw and this was my man-child. I handed George off to Abe because I was afraid I was going to wet my pants.
When Abe realized Clark was going to wrestle a girl he handed George back, afraid he might wet his pants!
He won. And no mercy was shown. Phew!
In his words, "I'm glad I won, but I did not enjoy wrestling her."
For the record, I did not enjoy watching my son wrestling a young lady to the ground, either.
4 comments:
It all happened very quickly, and before I knew it Clark had been paired with this girl supposedly his own age.
We had never discussed this possibility.
So next time (I am going to have to think about this), but I may have to put forward a No-Girl-Wrestling rule for Clark. We'll see.
There was a big bru-ha-ha about this very thing in the news recently. A high school aged young man forfeited the state championship because he would have had to wrestle a girl--which was against his religion (they never disclosed the religion). I was proud of the kid for the way he handled himself. Good for Clark for doing what he was trained to do, but my goodness, that is intimate! I hope she wasn't developed yet!(: If girls want to wrestle, they should wrestle girls.
That may be true Abe...I don't have an 11 year old boy wrestling but I can't help but thing WHAT are the parents of the girl thinking??? Totally not where she should be! Sterling wrestled last year. He is seven. He had a girl that wrestled on his team but he did not have to wrestle with her. Go Clark!
I love that you said "Show no mercy!" If that girl wants to wrestle, she should have to experience the real deal. Good job Clark!
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