My 4 year old son has been going to this soccer activity with older boys for a few weeks now. They have practice sessions where it’s a mix between games and scrimmages. Although the other boys are much older and more experienced than my son, at least he is giving everything his best shot and holding his own.

He was holding his own so much in one game that another older boy punched my son multiple times to get him off of the ball. After the game was over, my som told me what happened and I asked him to go talk to the boy about it. To my surprise, he actually walked over there (with me close behind him) to tell that boy his thoughts. My son said that hitting and punching is not allowed and to stop doing thag in the game. The boy took a look at my son and just walked off like he didn’t care what was said. The boy’s friend walked closer to my son and tried to air kick him before walking away also. I’m glad the second boy didn’t actually make contact with my son and I was proud of my son for using his voice to stick up for himself. I let the whole situation go and was admiring my son’s actions as we were walking to the coach to close up the session.

During the closing words where the coach was addressing all of the players, the same boy that was punching my son stood up and walked over to a girl he did not know. The girl was sitting down and listening to the coach, but that boy decided to stomp as hard as he could on her leg. This action was completely unprovoked and I immediately interrupted the coach to let him know what happened and also to say there was a pattern of behavior that day with my son being punched as well. The coach quickly took the boy aside and had some stern words, but not a parent in sight to reinforce those words to harden them into a core value.

Apparently, the parents do not correct the behavior and that boy has caused this kind of issues more than a handful of times. It’s fine that boys play rougher with each other within reason. They will hopefully learn where to draw the line. The behavior of stomping on girls though is completely unacceptable. As parents, there needs to be a higher level of investment to be present and to guide your kids in the right way. While I am not perfect, I do show up as much as possible and for those big issues, you have to iron it all out of them right away and consistently. I’ll be watching a bit closer to make sure nothing else goes on and I’ll keep encouraging my son to use his voice to stick up for himself and others because that’s what leaders do.