A mum has blamed children’s sport for harming families and causing burnout, saying the pressure is forcing kids to grow up too fast.
Abby Eckel, who has more than 600,000 TikTok followers, says she had just one child in sport, and it was enough to burn out their whole family.
“I think kids’ sports are ruining families, marriages and kids themselves,” she explained in a now-viral video.
“My son was in two sports in the spring, and we had something every single night of the week in terms of a practice and then we had a practice or a game and then we had games on the weekends as well, and we were exhausted. Everybody was exhausted.
“I never saw my husband. We never had actual time to connect. We never had any good intimate, connected family time.
“Everybody was tired. We were at each other’s throats. We were just going and going and going and going, and I won’t do it. I won’t do it.”
She says while she’s aware of the positive aspects of children participating in sport, she doesn’t think it outweighs the damage it’s doing.
“I know that kids sports, recreational sports, team sports are very important. I know there’s a lot of lessons that come out of that. I played sports when I was a kid, but this has gotten insane,” she said.
“My kids are six and nine, and at this level, this level of competition, the expectation that we have of kids at this age, I think it’s detrimental. I think it’s harming more than it’s helping. and I sure as s**t don’t think it’s helping marriages which are already struggling.”
@abbyeckel And that was just with ONE kid in sports. I think we are forcing kids to grow up too fast. Competitive sports at 7 years old?! Are you kidding me? No wonder parents are burnt out, exhausted and marriages are suffering. I dont think kids sports are the only reason for failing relationships, but they’re certainly not helping. At what point is running kids around every night snd every weekend doing more good than harm? Im not going to force myself or my kids into that. There are plenty of other ways to learn about teamwork that doesnt consist of burning yourself out at the ripe age of 10. #parenting #parenthood #momlife ♬ original sound – abbyeckel
Abby believes there are lots of other ways for children to learn about teamwork that ‘doesn’t consist of burning yourself out at the ripe age of 10′.
“Marriages aren’t like, on the up and up. I don’t know if you know this, but like, half of them end in divorce, and I don’t think burning yourselves to the ground, running kids around every single night and every single weekend is the answer.”
Her video was met by thousands of parents who are in agreement, claiming that children’s sport is far too intrusive on family life.
“I did it with all 3 kids. Year round. I couldn’t agree more. We should have bought a boat and spent our weekends at the lake.”
“I think it also teaches kids that they are the centre of the family. And that can’t be healthy.”
“I think this is why some people remember 2020 and the lockdown fondly. Way less go go go, more quality time.”
However, other parents didn’t agree, saying that it’s an essential part of childhood.
“We love it. Most don’t get it. My kids hate when we are just sitting at home. Select baseball, football, softball and dance. But also we have been lucky to make practice together as a couple.”
“Respectfully, couldn’t disagree more for my kids and family. Overschedueld? Yes. Learning how to be good teammates and people, work with a group, feel big emotions (and recover), have second families and literally travel the world as a family and with others – very valuable life lessons. My husband and I are connected and LOVE the chaos and life lessons our kids are learning every day.”
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