“I would go into the bathroom stall during halftime and re-apply the tape that held my wig on. I saw nothing beautiful about my bald head. When they called me ‘baldy’ or said, ‘Lindsay is ugly,’ I believed it was true. I took my wig off mid-run. And for the first time, I saw nothing beautiful about it. I finally felt like I was the Lindsay I was always meant to be.”
‘I could never date someone without hair.’ I’ll never forget the look of disgust on his face.’: Woman with alopecia ditches wig, ‘It has shown me I can do anything I set my mind to’
‘Does it not bother you that you aren’t getting to play?’ Her response rocked my world: ‘I know what my role is on the team, and I’m okay with that.’: Mom learns powerful lesson about sports from daughter, ‘Not everyone can be the star athlete’
“I had never had a kid be a benchwarmer before. I didn’t know how to be the parent of a kid who didn’t play. I didn’t know how to get excited for the team when my kid wasn’t on the floor. It was a new role for me, and I didn’t like it. What really bothered me most was that it seemed to NOT bother her. After 2 weeks into the season, I couldn’t bite my tongue any longer.”
‘I heard his sweet, crackly voice whisper, ‘Mama, I don’t want to go.’ He burst into tears and lunged toward me.’: Mom urges ‘cheer them on, congratulate them, tell them how proud you are’
“It was his very ‘fourst’ day of hockey. ‘What’s wrong, buddy? You were so excited.’ As I held my little trembling man, feeling his warm tears falling from his eyes onto my own cheek, every fiber of me felt his fear. A tiny part of me wanted to let him stay home. My heart ached as I watched the car pull out of the driveway.”
‘I’ve been seeing a boy for a year.’ I wasn’t changing. My family was going to be disappointed. We are Catholic.’: Gay twin brothers come out to parents, ’We struggled with the fact we could lose family for being who we are.’
“‘Do you have any crushes on girls in your class?’ It was hard to get away with answering ‘no.’ I thought of sending myself to conversion therapy. We couldn’t understand why we weren’t sexually attracted to women. Having this picture embedded in our heads of a hyper-masculine culture messed us up. We knew sooner or later something, or someone, would have to give.”
‘He never even looked for me. Not when he fell. Not when he stood back up. It stunned me, to be honest.’: 6-year-old doesn’t need mom after falling hard, ‘I watched and I watched, and I waited’
“My little boy was knocked off his feet by a bigger kid during a soccer game. My hands were clinched on the sidelines as I watched him limp toward the goal. I watched and I watched, and I waited. And he never even looked for me. He fell hard. And he didn’t even look for me.”
‘Was it my fault?’ My kid missed a play we practiced 100 times and cost his team the game.’: Mom reminds us sports are about ‘love for the game,’ claims ‘my son’s efforts are never wrong’
“He let the ball roll right between his legs with bases loaded in the last inning of the last game of the season. I wanted to scream at him. I was so angry. As he walked out of the dugout with shrugged shoulders, I felt a shameful sinking feeling.”
‘I understand you’re not in the stadium to see the marching band or cheerleaders, but PLEASE clap for our kids, too.’: Band, cheer mom reminds us to ‘yell, applaud’ for the marching band, ‘they work incredibly hard too’
“At most high schools, the football team is applauded and admired while the marching band is made fun of. The halftime show is their chance, for a few minutes, to be cheered on. Please DO cheer. Their formations are equivalent to touchdowns. They march, practice, and give up summer free time in 90-degree heat to get their ‘game’ ready, too. There’s no ‘marching band madness.’ The newspaper won’t give a run-down of their show. The halftime show IS their big moment.”
‘I love watching you play.’ This is the ONLY thing a child needs to hear from a parent after a game.’: Sports mom says children need to know their worth ‘isn’t measured by wins or losses’
“Parents. Stop the madness. The lectures. The play-by-plays. The should’ve, could’ve. Look around and you’ll see on every court, field, ball park…all the talk. How would it feel for someone to criticize your every word or move, in your ear? Even when they didn’t score, even when they didn’t win, even if they turned over the ball, flubbed up, or missed the catch, our kids need to be praised for their effort.”
‘Girls shouldn’t play baseball. Stick to softball.’ The coach suddenly cut our daughter from the team.’: 7-year-old girl, MVP player gets dropped from baseball team after ‘advanced plays’
“Our daughter Ashlynn was MVP. Shortly after, the coach moved her to the bottom of the batter order. When we showed up at the next tryout, the team had already been selected without her. And the next tryout. It was so unfair what was happening. If we told her, we knew it would change how much she loved baseball.”
‘That girl wears so much makeup, she must be high maintenance. She’s pretty, so she’s dumb. I see an awful lot of claws out.’
“Growing up, I was often complimented that I was ‘not like other girls’. I loved to play sports, crack jokes and hang out with my brother’s friends. I put my hair in a pony tail and wore blue jeans. And I wasn’t like other girls. Because other girls were… Hmm. I don’t know, exactly.”
