Finding ideal activities for young children can be a challenge, but whatever a Minnesota soccer camp had its kids doing made a parent quite upset. In a now-deleted post on r/mildlyinfuriating, Reddit user Johnny_drama87 explained how he had paid $220 for an 8-week soccer camp for his 3-year-old and couldn’t believe what they had his child doing.
According to Johnny_drama87, one of the drills had the children stand in a straight line and pass the ball down until the last kid in line would throw it into a net. The child who threw would then switch places with the one at the front of the line. “They had 3-4 year olds do this for FIFTEEN MINUTES!” the dad exclaimed angrily. Unfortunately, among the hundreds of Redditors commenting in the post, few were on the parent’s side.
Reddit Shamed the Michigan Dad for Being Upset Over His Son’s Soccer Camp Activity
One of the main objections to the dad’s frustration was that 3-year-olds shouldn’t be pressured with too many expectations in physical sports. “Honestly though what kind of drills do you expect a 3-year-old to be capable of?” questioned a commenter. Another person who claimed to have coached kids’ soccer emphasized that teaching children to wait patiently and take turns is a “huge win.”
Another highly upvoted user criticized the dad for his behavior, saying, “Please don’t be that parent. It’s ridiculous. They are teaching hand-eye coordination skills and squaring up and aiming at the goal. Eventually, this drill will be foot-based. Relax. It’s kids.”
Plenty of others chimed in, sharing a similar sentiment: the children were learning patience and teamwork, so there was little reason to be mad. According to Johnny_drama87, he had a different idea for what the goals of the soccer camp should be for his 3-year-old.
“Let me be clear, the goals of this camp should be, in order: 1a) have fun, 1B) burn as much energy in 50 minutes as possible, and a distant 2) learn something about soccer,” he wrote in earnest. The dad added that it doesn’t matter if his child learned anything about soccer. It was seeing his son with others “literally be bored in front of our eyes, during a physical activity” that upset him so.
Unfortunately for this Minnesota parent, the majority of those reacting to his post feel he wasn’t justified in being frustrated about his child being taught a ‘good lesson’ at soccer camp.
