Everything & Fitness: Children are awesome!

I'm writing this on a sunny afternoon whilst the kids go ape on the Xbox 360. After the morning they've had, they deserve a little advanced gaming. I figured since they were occupied I could write a quick note.

So ... the blog title: Children are awesome! They really are.

This morning we all decided - and by all I mean; my son, nephew and moi - to go basketball training. Bear in mind I'm still recovering from triple hernia surgery so I bring a book and sit outside at the cafe where I can see the kids in the sports hall through a wall-sized screen window. Before long I'm inside sitting on a bench chatting to one of the mums about how much her kids have developed at sports. She has this air of pride that makes me smile with her as we watch her youngest boy make a crisp pass to another kid.

I know the video above is a visual cliché, but it's my blog, my rules!

My son and nephew are training at the other end of the court with a bunch of other kids and I begin to watch them with marked interest because it's only now that I realise how progressed my son has become as a player.
A few months back he would go through drills/plays and appear as though he was concentrating a lot. Now, everything is automatic, his movements are smooth, natural; and his footwork is precise.

Why hadn't I noticed this before? #becauseiwasntwatchingslowenough

My nephew doesn't play basketball but he gives it a damn good try. He's a black belt in Karate so I'm not at all worried about his physical abilities, at least he isn't staring into space for long periods at a time with a half eaten chocolate bar in his hand, food stains around his lips.

Me and the proud mum decide to get the kids some juice so we go to the shops and come back with a selection of water and soft drinks. My nephew walks past drinking a Fruit Shoot. I stop. Do a double take, and call him over.

"Where did you get that?" I say to him accusingly (if you haven't noticed from previous blogs, children confuse me, often).

He gives me the world's most sincerely innocent look and replies: "I bought it, with the money in my wallet, Uncle."

Huh! What money? In who's wallet? I'm thinking, as he takes a massive sip, does that this-is-a-refreshingly-good-drink sigh; and runs off to join the rest of the children.
Proud mum looks at me, I look at her, and we both say nothing and shrug our shoulders.

At the far end of the sports hall my son is dribbling a ball through his legs several times before taking a shot, hitting nothing but net.