This is going to be one of those "things are worse today than they were when I was a kid", "why I remember when I was a kid" type of article. With that said, when did we worry so much about how much our kids were hydrated? And I guess I do/would to, but when was water not good enough?I can remember it starting when I was in high school. Parents would bring some of my teammates Gatorades during baseball games. I always, even then as a player, thought it was sorta weird that parents would bring Gatorades to my teammates when we had a water cooler in the dugout. Maybe it was because my parents couldn't afford two Gatorades during a game and they thought water was just fine that formed this opinion that I had and still have.
I remember thinking it odd that parents would do that, but it made more sense than for some of my teammates accepting them. If my parents had approached the dugout, I would have let them know they were not supposed to be in that area. I would have done it as nicely as possible, but that was sacred ground.
Then as a baseball coach, parents would actually come up to me and ask for me to give Gatorades to their kids. I got the same feeling I did when I was a kid when my Grandpa would ask me to go get his cigarettes. It was a feeling like I was partaking in something negative. With Grandpa it was his smoking cigarettes, with the players it was making them...."weaker"? Again, there was water in a cooler in the dugout, it wasn't like there was nothing for them to drink. If that had been true, then I could understand being the go between.
So now, this "giving Gatorades to our kids during baseball games" has turned into giving them Gatorades while sitting on the bench of a basketball game. All the while there are water bottles for them to drink...water.
So what is the big deal you ask? Probably nothing. Probably me overreacting. Probably me jealous because I couldn't afford them when I was young (maybe we could, maybe my parents just chose different priorities). Probably that has carried over into my adult life kinda like I cannot stand for lights to be on in the house (my parents set the electric bill at a certain price when I was a kid and anything under that price my sister and I got to split, imagine the mental illness that installed in me).
Or maybe, it is symbolic of the overall change of our society. Giving Gatorades to our kids is NOT a signal of the end of Western Civilization nor a sign of the Apocalypse, but is it symbolic? I can remember playing for hours, and I mean hours and not drinking water, and when we did get a cold drink of water (remember drinking it down taking it in like air and it tasted so good), it was water...out of the tap with ice. Water...good for you, all the time. Heck, Gatorade is so good, I will sometimes drink it with a meal not as a quencher of thirst.
So maybe I am overreacting and maybe if you see me this summer and my daughter is thirsty at a baseball game (haven't seen a water cooler yet), I will be getting her a Gatorade...probably over by us so she can come over and I can give her a hug during the game. Yea, you are right...kinda hypocritical and quite possibly a sign of the fall of Western Civ....but hey...she's my kid!
