Mighty Mason

I hardly ever get nervous for myself but getting nervous for my kids, especially Mason, is a common concept for me. Lately our biggest obstacle has been making weight for football. He is what is called an Older but Lighter; however, the scales were saying he was inching out of the lighter category. In order to stay on his current team, he had to lose a few pounds. Moving up to a bigger division would have meant that he was not only young but also very small for the group. We did not care one way or another which division he ended up in. We wanted it to be his choice. When we proposed his options, lose weight and stay on your team or move up with the big boys, his immediate reaction was to lose weight.
Here at Casa D'Ashcraft losing weight is, well, a weighty issue. As a long time winner/loser of the body image and weight loss war, it was impossible for me to tell him what to tell him which choice to make; however, when I did make suggestions about food/exercise, I hardly ever got it right. I was not a stellar example of how this should work. What I know I did right was leave it up to him in the end. John is the master of cutting weight as he did so, admittedly, to the extreme when he wrestled in college. He tells a story of his mother showing up to a tournament and bursting into tears as she saw him in his 6'1 frame weighing about a 145 pounds.
Needless to say the past few weeks have been filled with grilled chicken and chicken noodle soup. In my presence, Mason made a lot healthy choices that don't come naturally to him (mostly because he is my son and we really LOVE comfort food and sugar iced with delicousness). I'm most proud that he decided to put in the work and make better food and exercise choices. He could have very easily taken the easier road and joined the big boys.
Tonight was the final weigh in. He needed to be 85.4 or under to stay on his current team. I was a wreck all day. Weak in knees, faint, a little sick feeling. We packed up the car with the little girls and headed uptown. We fought the traffic. Then we stood in line for 45 minutes. Seriously, my nerves can't handle this drama. The little girls were fine as it was at Freedom Park and Charley ate sticks while Hadley poked her with them. A win/win for them. Finally his turn came. 85.2.
He's in. Now to maintain. Sigh. He can do it!! I'm really proud of him.

Last season's Masonator

I realize that some people couldn't imagine encouraging children to lose weight, but in a world where our kids are sedentary by our lifestyle of ease, it is so easy for food splurges and special treats to make their permanent impression on little bodies. This has also been a wake up call to encourage all of my children to make better food choices and to remind them to move their precious bodies more and more. Dance parties to ensue! For the record, all the yummy stuff I've been baking has gone straight to school for my illustrious colleagues to share.