Take and Leave Advice for Fellow Dads

[blackshirt98]

Question for any baseball dads…

My son is 7. I know that they can play “select” 🙄🙄 at 8u. That’s where he’d play this summer.

My son is going to fit right in with the average kids his age when it comes to throwing and catching. But hitting the ball, he’s certainly going to stand out as a kid who probably belongs playing on a bit more of a serious team. One of my buddies that owns a facility in CB told me he needs to be playing “select.”

Is there any benefit at that age to having him play on a “select” team?

There’s a huge benefit to playing as a 7 year old if you’re in the right organization. At this point, for this upcoming summer, that’s likely too late. All of those teams had tryouts between May-July of 2023, for the 2024 season because they workout in the fall. The jump the kids take from that first season of kid pitch, with the number of reps in that first offseason between 7 and 8s, makes a world of difference when then start the 8u season. Now does that guarantee anything? No….just means they’ll be 100+ at bats in before a lot of their peers start, and more comfortable at the plate. Can springboard them if they’re ready. I’ll always advocate a 7u team playing, but I’m also crazy so I get that. Baseball is just a game of reps. Especially in cold weather climates like Nebraska.

 

[DrumMonkeyRobot]

If you’re a new parent - SLEEP TRAIN. My daughter is 18 months old, we sleep trained her at 8 months old, since then she’s slept for at least 10 hours each night, minus 3 weeks when she had a regression. It was an absolute game changer. She know gets on average 10 1/2 - 11 hours of sleep at night

How did you sleep-train her? I have a 15-week-old daughter and want to sleep-train her when she's ready. She's already a pretty good sleeper, typically sleeping about 6 hrs before waking up for a feeding. Then she goes right back to sleep for another 3 hours or so, so the nights haven't been as bad as we were expecting. We definitely want to stay on top of it as she gets older.

 

[BluesBucksNHuskers]

If you’re a new parent - SLEEP TRAIN. My daughter is 18 months old, we sleep trained her at 8 months old, since then she’s slept for at least 10 hours each night, minus 3 weeks when she had a regression. It was an absolute game changer. She know gets on average 10 1/2 - 11 hours of sleep at night

I’ll second this. Since I never lived with my kids mother and we have week on week off custody I’m an interesting case study on this.

My house since as young as I can remember, strict bed time - no deviation. I can’t remember a time he hasn’t recognized his own bed time and just reminds me it’s time to bring him a glass of water and tuck him in.

Mom was not that structured and bed time is a battle on her weeks. The second he gets to my house, not a peep about it.

Probably has something to do with the difference in how moms and dads parent too.

Also, side benefit. Even at 10, If I threaten to move his bedtime up 15 minutes as a punishment you would think I just banned him from video games for life and he shapes up immediately. If I reward him with an extra 30 minutes later bed time his eyes light up like I just handed him a $1,000 check.

 

[...TrueColors...]

There’s a huge benefit to playing as a 7 year old if you’re in the right organization. At this point, for this upcoming summer, that’s likely too late. All of those teams had tryouts between May-July of 2023, for the 2024 season because they workout in the fall. The jump the kids take from that first season of kid pitch, with the number of reps in that first offseason between 7 and 8s, makes a world of difference when then start the 8u season. Now does that guarantee anything? No….just means they’ll be 100+ at bats in before a lot of their peers start, and more comfortable at the plate. Can springboard them if they’re ready. I’ll always advocate a 7u team playing, but I’m also crazy so I get that. Baseball is just a game of reps. Especially in cold weather climates like Nebraska.

I appreciate this post and I can see where you’re coming from. I agree it’s likely too late for this summer.

My train of thought has been that within my group of close friends, baseball resources are things we don’t lack. For example, I was at a wedding in October and there were three people there that have World Series rings. Two that coached and one that is the head of S&C for an organization.

So my son has been hitting 1-2 times a week for the past two years with a buddy of mine who opened a facility. I know that there’s a difference between hitting in the tunnels and game reps, but I’m not completely worried about that gap as I believe he can close it over a season. He’s also left-handed so he’s got a natural “in” if you will.

The concern I have is that I don’t think his mom realizes the time commitment. If that barrier can be cleared then we’ll pull the trigger.

 

[BluesBucksNHuskers]

There’s a huge benefit to playing as a 7 year old if you’re in the right organization. At this point, for this upcoming summer, that’s likely too late. All of those teams had tryouts between May-July of 2023, for the 2024 season because they workout in the fall. The jump the kids take from that first season of kid pitch, with the number of reps in that first offseason between 7 and 8s, makes a world of difference when then start the 8u season. Now does that guarantee anything? No….just means they’ll be 100+ at bats in before a lot of their peers start, and more comfortable at the plate. Can springboard them if they’re ready. I’ll always advocate a 7u team playing, but I’m also crazy so I get that. Baseball is just a game of reps. Especially in cold weather climates like Nebraska.

That’s what I would say too. As someone who watched the open 9U tryouts, the difference in skill between the select players and the rec players REALLY popped out. Even for the select kids that I really thought had no business playing select ball.

Reps matter, but I’ll add that if you’re not a dad that half way regularly is going to go out and play catch or pitch to your kid, don’t look at select as a way to fix that - just put them in rec. A couple of the better athletes in my sons grade have gotten really discouraged with baseball because they sit on the bench a lot despite being really good at other sports, really just because their dads don’t care as much about baseball and don’t work with them at all outside of practice.

 

[Steveweiser316]

How did you sleep-train her? I have a 15-week-old daughter and want to sleep-train her when she's ready. She's already a pretty good sleeper, typically sleeping about 6 hrs before waking up for a feeding. Then she goes right back to sleep for another 3 hours or so, so the nights haven't been as bad as we were expecting. We definitely want to stay on top of it as she gets older.

We used the Takingcarababies approach. I think some refer to it as the cry it out approach. Here’s here instagram https://www.instagram.com/takingcarababies?igsh=bHNkYWo3ZGRvOHJo

There’s a program you can buy but a friend of ours had already bought the PDF so she just gave it to us for free. You can get a lot of good info regarding wake windows and how much sleep time your baby should be getting just by googling wake windows at the baby’s age.

 

[Steveweiser316]

I’ll second this. Since I never lived with my kids mother and we have week on week off custody I’m an interesting case study on this.

My house since as young as I can remember, strict bed time - no deviation. I can’t remember a time he hasn’t recognized his own bed time and just reminds me it’s time to bring him a glass of water and tuck him in.

Mom was not that structured and bed time is a battle on her weeks. The second he gets to my house, not a peep about it.

Probably has something to do with the difference in how moms and dads parent too.

Also, side benefit. Even at 10, If I threaten to move his bedtime up 15 minutes as a punishment you would think I just banned him from video games for life and he shapes up immediately. If I reward him with an extra 30 minutes later bed time his eyes light up like I just handed him a $1,000 check.

Yeah - we have our whole routine down. It gets messed up a little on the nights my wife is gone since we do it together but routine is so important for babies/toddlers/young children

 

[DrumMonkeyRobot]

We used the Takingcarababies approach. I think some refer to it as the cry it out approach. Here’s here instagram https://www.instagram.com/takingcarababies?igsh=bHNkYWo3ZGRvOHJo

There’s a program you can buy but a friend of ours had already bought the PDF so she just gave it to us for free. You can get a lot of good info regarding wake windows and how much sleep time your baby should be getting just by googling wake windows at the baby’s age.

Oh, nice! We already subscribe to this so I'll check out what they have to say.

Thanks, dude!

 

[Steveweiser316]

Oh, nice! We already subscribe to this so I'll check out what they have to say.

Thanks, dude!

No problem. Let me know if you have any questions as you go through it. The 1st few nights we did it were really hard for my wife so I kind of lead it. I will say we fucked up with naps. The only way she can nap is basically sleep eating so if you’re doing that try and stop it now - we actually need to nap train her soon because we’re running out of time.

 

[DrumMonkeyRobot]

No problem. Let me know if you have any questions as you go through it. The 1st few nights we did it were really hard for my wife so I kind of lead it. I will say we fucked up with naps. The only way she can nap is basically sleep eating so if you’re doing that try and stop it now - we actually need to nap train her soon because we’re running out of time.

I'd say we're 50/50 or less with sleep eating for naps. We basically only use that when she refuses to nap on her own. We're pretty good about sticking to the eat when she wakes up, do our activities for an hour or two, nap, repeat.

 

[HCFord1]

We used the Takingcarababies approach. I think some refer to it as the cry it out approach. Here’s here instagram https://www.instagram.com/takingcarababies?igsh=bHNkYWo3ZGRvOHJo

There’s a program you can buy but a friend of ours had already bought the PDF so she just gave it to us for free. You can get a lot of good info regarding wake windows and how much sleep time your baby should be getting just by googling wake windows at the baby’s age.

Not sure what the approach that she outlines is, but we had success using the Ferber method, which others may refer to as modified cry it out. Basically when the child wakes, you set a timer and at the end you do a very brief check in to comfort them and then leave again. If they're still crying then the next timer is slightly longer, and you repeat this with every wake cycle. Each successive day the time intervals get longer, but by day 3 or 4 you should see significant improvement. Usually after a week they may wake and cry briefly but can get themselves back to sleep without any intervention.

I also know some friends who went with the traditional cry it out method where you put the kid to bed and don't come back in until the morning. They all said that by night 3 the kids were sleeping well, but there was no way I was going to talk my wife into that approach so we settled on the Ferber method which takes slightly longer but might be easier mentally to deal with.

Naps are a completely different animal and more difficult IMO.

 

[HCFord1]

Question regarding sports for those of you with boys - at what age did your kids start showing real interest in playing sports? I've got a 3 year old and he shows brief interest in stuff like hitting a ball off a tee or playing golf because he knows that I like them, but his attention span is so short that after just a few minutes he just wants to play with toys or go on the swings.

His daycare has a weekly soccer program that we signed him up for where they do 30 minutes of soccer instruction and he seems to enjoy that, but just wondering at this point if he'll be a kid who isn't really into sports or whether that just comes later when his ability to focus and coordination improve.

I was a college baseball player and would love it if he wanted to play baseball, but other than signing him up for tee ball at some point I'm definitely not going to push him if he doesn't have much interest. My wife asked if we should sign him up for tee ball this fall and my opinion was that he definitely won't be ready having just turned 4. Anyone else have perspective on that?

 

[...TrueColors...]

Question regarding sports for those of you with boys - at what age did your kids start showing real interest in playing sports? I've got a 3 year old and he shows brief interest in stuff like hitting a ball off a tee or playing golf because he knows that I like them, but his attention span is so short that after just a few minutes he just wants to play with toys or go on the swings.

His daycare has a weekly soccer program that we signed him up for where they do 30 minutes of soccer instruction and he seems to enjoy that, but just wondering at this point if he'll be a kid who isn't really into sports or whether that just comes later when his ability to focus and coordination improve.

I was a college baseball player and would love it if he wanted to play baseball, but other than signing him up for tee ball at some point I'm definitely not going to push him if he doesn't have much interest. My wife asked if we should sign him up for tee ball this fall and my opinion was that he definitely won't be ready having just turned 4. Anyone else have perspective on that?

I was in this same spot 4 years ago that you are in now. I had no idea what level of interest my son would show in sports. The truth of the matter is he’s going to want to do what you do. So the more you immerse him into certain things the more he’s going to want to do them. I always just put an emphasis on being active no matter what you choose; that way he would develop the athletic ability and coordination to pick what he wanted to do.

I didn’t have my son play an organized sport until the spring he turned 5. He’d do a clinic for various sports below that, sure. But you’re certainly not behind if you wait. In my opinion, anything below 5 I would have just been having someone else be a glorified babysitter.

 

[blackshirt98]

I appreciate this post and I can see where you’re coming from. I agree it’s likely too late for this summer.

My train of thought has been that within my group of close friends, baseball resources are things we don’t lack. For example, I was at a wedding in October and there were three people there that have World Series rings. Two that coached and one that is the head of S&C for an organization.

So my son has been hitting 1-2 times a week for the past two years with a buddy of mine who opened a facility. I know that there’s a difference between hitting in the tunnels and game reps, but I’m not completely worried about that gap as I believe he can close it over a season. He’s also left-handed so he’s got a natural “in” if you will.

The concern I have is that I don’t think his mom realizes the time commitment. If that barrier can be cleared then we’ll pull the trigger.

If you're already getting the weekly reps from a buddy with a facility - you're set. Let the kids throw live to each other in a tunnel this summer if you don't end up landing somewhere, and you're golden....

The time commitment is the hard part though hah, for sure. Especially if you get on good teams - 5 games eats up a weekend quick

 

[Steveweiser316]

Not sure what the approach that she outlines is, but we had success using the Ferber method, which others may refer to as modified cry it out. Basically when the child wakes, you set a timer and at the end you do a very brief check in to comfort them and then leave again. If they're still crying then the next timer is slightly longer, and you repeat this with every wake cycle. Each successive day the time intervals get longer, but by day 3 or 4 you should see significant improvement. Usually after a week they may wake and cry briefly but can get themselves back to sleep without any intervention.

I also know some friends who went with the traditional cry it out method where you put the kid to bed and don't come back in until the morning. They all said that by night 3 the kids were sleeping well, but there was no way I was going to talk my wife into that approach so we settled on the Ferber method which takes slightly longer but might be easier mentally to deal with.

Naps are a completely different animal and more difficult IMO.

Yeah that’s pretty similar to the method we used. I’m not sure what the differences are. The 1st night we did it, my wife went in and it absolutely pissed my daughter off. The next night I went in and it went much smoother. By night 3 she had stopped crying within the 5 min mark.

 

[Steveweiser316]

I was in this same spot 4 years ago that you are in now. I had no idea what level of interest my son would show in sports. The truth of the matter is he’s going to want to do what you do. So the more you immerse him into certain things the more he’s going to want to do them. I always just put an emphasis on being active no matter what you choose; that way he would develop the athletic ability and coordination to pick what he wanted to do.

I didn’t have my son play an organized sport until the spring he turned 5. He’d do a clinic for various sports below that, sure. But you’re certainly not behind if you wait. In my opinion, anything below 5 I would have just been having someone else be a glorified babysitter.

Yeah my nephew played Tball this summer and he had just turned 3. It’s basically just practice and baby-sitting. Especially when the kid shuts down and doesn’t want to do anything