Get off your butt!

Preparing to leave for softball practice, my daughter secretly tells her mother, “Dad’s just going to play on his phone the whole time.”  Upon this information being shared with me, I felt awful.  Did my daughter think I wasn’t paying attention and making her the priority?  In this situation, she did, and it bugged the crap out of me.  Therefore, I have a commitment to stay off the phone while watching the kids at practice.

There are plenty of other things to do during practice.  First and foremost, watch.  Before I know it , she’ll be all grown up, softball will be a thing of the past, and I’ll wish for the days of early wake up calls and late nights getting homework completed because there was an away game that didn’t get us home until 9:30pm.

Another activity during the kids practice time is exercise.  You can watch practice by walking around the field and getting in your steps for the day.  Walking is walking, if you can do it for 30 minutes, great!  It’s healthy and a great use of time.  If you’ve not began using a step counting device, I’d recommend a Fitbit, Nike Fuel Band or Garmin Vivofit, that is of course if you’re not using an Apple Watch which has a great app as well.

If you’re walking or just watching, I suggest listening to your favorite podcast on iTunes.  There are podcasts that cover every topic imaginable, I’m certain you can find something of interest.  I like to listen to Jay Baer’s Social Pros, since I’m always looking to learn about the latest and greatest regarding social media.

Practice time should be about the kids and making sure they know we care enough about them to watch them do their thing.  If you can get some exercise and flex your brain muscles during this time period, I believe you’ll keep everyone happy and get something out of it for yourself.