It's lacrosse season. My teenage son is certainly gung ho about it, schlepping his equipment to and from the field by foot and never missing practice. I tell myself that exercise and fresh air are essential to a growing boy.
But have you ever suffered through a game? I'm really not a wimp, but this is nothing short of badass hockey. Each player carries a stick with a small net at the end, and the ball is passed from net to net. (I hope no lacrosse enthusiasts ever read this because I still do not know the rules and I still do not know the difference between passing and feeding.)
Now here's why I have to cover my eyes for most of the game: players freely whack each other with their sticks. I asked my son why he's allowed to thump an opponent so freely?
"We're checking," he says.
"Checking what?" I asked.
His expression recorded something akin to: Mom, you are so retarded.
Apparently, checking looks a lot like whacking, but players are allowed to do so in the attempt to thwart a pass and so on. That's fine. It's nice to know that this type of violent action is all above board.
So when I read that sports injuries among children have increased eight-fold in the past decade, no doubt a lot was happening on the playing field besides "checking." In fact, kids are showing up in emergency rooms with injuries more often seen in adult athletes.
According to one recent study, knee injuries among children are increasing in frightening numbers. And the bones of an adolescent athlete are so immature that a knee injury can alter a child's growth plates and lead to permanent damage.
And what about the fact that concussive injuries total some 2 million a year among children. Is it all worth it? Some parents will stand by their pint-sized athletes at ever younger ages. Why? That coveted athletic resume is a great ticket to the nation's top colleges.
PT editor at large Hara Estroff Marano has a lot to say on this topic. Her new book, A Nation of Wimps, The High Cost of Invasive Parenting
lays it all out there.
Anyway, I won't try to discourage my child from playing. But I wasn't at all disappointed that he didn't make the elite team. Besides, some of those kids look like they can eat a shoulder of beef in one sitting, and I like my kid's knees the way they are...intact.
