Wednesday, March 7, 2012

Being Prepared - Baseball Mom Style

I am gearing up for a season of baseball and softball with my kids.  Two of them play, one boy one girl.  I was just adding practices and games, etc. to my calendar and I noticed that I will be spending many hours at the fields as they  have practices and games back to back or close together where it isn't worth the time to go home and come back to the fields again.  This is where I begin to think, "okay, how do I start to prepare to stay at the fields for hours on end and keep another child entertained while the others are playing?".

Here are a few things I have done in the past that help.

1. a good first aid kit with head-ache medicine, bandaids, chapstick, and sun screen. Bactine, gauze pads, and ice packs.

2. a bag of entertaining items for the children who are not playing to include, DS games, cartridges, car charger, books to read, coloring books and other activities.

3. A good pair of sun glasses for me and a hat for each person in the family.

4. Entertainment for me.  I find that I tend to do a lot of crochet and knitting while at the fields.

5.  A good camp chair with sturdy legs. (Those bleachers are no fun to sit on)

6.  Dollar bills.  Nothing says yum like something from the snack bar, particularly hot chocolate on those cold days. :)

7.  Cooler with snacks, drinks and water bottles for everyone not just the players. I have a great igloo cooler that is a bit taller than a soda can and it can fit a six pack of sodas in it with an ice pack.  It is the perfect size for a few drinks and a couple snacks.

8. Several blankets to stay in the car.  I have lap size fleece blankets and we love them at the fields because they are smallish but unfold to cover your legs and arms.  We use these almost every game in the first half of the season when it is so cold sitting out there for two hours a game.

9.  Extra gloves.  Just the knit kind are perfect and I leave them in the bag too so we have them.

10.  An umbrella.  Self explanitory.... hee hee.

Most of these items I leave in the car and I have a large-ish bag that I put most of the blankets, gloves, etc in so we aren't lugging pieces parts around.  We just leave the bag in the car with the chairs.  I fill the cooler daily and make sure I have a variety of salty and sweet snacks to cure any craving.  I also leave the first aid kit in the car too.  The ball fields have a first aid kit if we need it but I just like to have one just in case.  My kids also have a wonderful habit of not telling anyone they were injured until we get back to the car and then tell me and show me all their scrapes and bruises.

What to you all do to prepare "mom style" for sports seasons?

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