God grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change;
courage to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference.

I cannot change soccer snacks. Well, technically speaking I suppose I could if I had the courage to just say no but, honestly, the snack controversy isn’t even controversial enough to register on most parents’ radar. There’s an assumption that it’s going to be done, so I roll along without feeling the need to raise social consciousness on something that in the grand order of the world is relatively trivial.

Yeah, it’s annoying that kids can’t run around for even a half-hour without expecting sustenance, but it’s not worth going to the wall over. Besides, have you ever been in a Major League Baseball locker room? Those guys have a big spread after every game, even though most of the team burns fewer calories than the average pee wee soccer player.

Of late, I can’t even get a good soccer snack slot – one early enough in the season that the pretty goody bags in team colors haven’t started rolling in. And when I do I wind up screwing it up with an expensive last-minute rush to the shoppette.

So in my new mode of somewhat-grumbling acceptance, I’m looking for a way to spin this into something positive. Fortunately, that’s not hard.

The guys, you see, absolutely love when it’s our turn to take snacks, mainly because they love the idea of picking out things to share with the friends. Big Guy, at times, has agonized over it. Witness his embarrassment the time I slipped apple slices into the assortment. “The people don’t like those,” he griped.

I’ve seen this pattern time and again, whether it’s been as we’ve planned a pizza party to welcome autumn or selected goody-bag swag. It’s even emerged as the guys have shopped for gifts for each other and Big Guy has momentarily forgotten that he hates his brother and searched for a present that Boots would genuinely love.

It’s a good thing, this concern for other people and what they might like. As far as I’m concerned I’ll give the guys as many chances as I can to let them practice it.

No, picking out a soccer snack will not ultimately turn them into male Mother Teresas. But it is a small opportunity to encourage them to think, not of just what they’d like, but whether others would enjoy it as well.

Copyright 2010 Debra Legg. All rights reserved.

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