Soak in those moments with your kids

By ANDREW POTTER, Marketing and Communications Director

I find myself more sentimental this year for some reason. Maybe it’s the aging or because our youngest of three kids is in his last year of elementary school, which means the last year for many things.

It’s the last year to create a Valentine’s Day card box for school, last year for those cute school concerts and last year to visit him in his classroom for parent reading time.

Since kids grow up so fast, we want to remind everyone that the Marshalltown YMCA-YWCA has many ways to cherish that time together.

One way to do this is our Youth Coed Tee Ball League, which is back starting the week of May 5 for ages 4-5 and 6-8.

I coached Y tee ball teams for a few years and have some special memories from that time with our kids. What a great way to impact other youth as well. I see players I coached years ago still yell “Hi Coach!” when they see me around town.

Now let’s get to that photo you see with this column. As a fun way to celebrate our last tee ball practice two years ago, I brought a cooler full of water balloons. We had players hit the balloons off the tee with a bat and then they ended up coming after me and fellow coach Ted Lewis with the balloons and soaked us pretty good. Thankfully, Y youth program staff member Jacob Janssen was able to capture this photo of the moment of impact. I was soaked from head to toe and I vividly remember wringing out my socks. 

These memories are only made by keeping kids active and involved and that is what the Y is all about. I’m already missing these Y sports as a coach, but thankfully I work here, so, I still stay involved in them.

Speaking of a memory maker, don’t miss the Y Daddy Daughter Dance on March 28, which is a special night for young girls and an adult male in their lives. Our next youth sports offering is a Youth Indoor Soccer Clinic starting in March. The Y offers so many more programs to connect with youth including parent and tot dance and swim programs.  For more information on these programs visit our website at www.ymca-ywca.org.
Make time for these activities in the lives of your family and try to be an active participant as a parent. Years from now, you’ll be glad you did.