The first day was actually worse than I anticipated. First, Monster was one of the youngest ones there, only he and one other child were 5. There were only three coaches for about 60 or so kids. The coaches never introduced themselves to the parents. Once the kids were signed in, a coach yelled, "OK, everyone, come with me," and they were off. Monster really had no clue as to what to do. I watched for about 5 minutes. When I was confident he was actually participating, I left. As I pulled out of the parking lot, not only was I crying, but so was Sunshine. She kept saying over and over "No leave [Monster]" and "[Sunshine] want [Monster]". It was heart breaking. Even more so because it's how I felt as well. I showed up about 20 minutes early to get him. When I got there, they were taking a water break. Poor Monster, he looked so lost. He didn't know where he was supposed to sit or what was expected of him. He took everything out of his backpack and had it spread all over the place. He couldn't find anything. Now, granted he's definitely not the most organized kid, but there were so many older kids and no coaches to help the younger ones. When they went back out on the field, I gathered all of this stuff for him. It was literally spread everywhere. What I learned was not to pack so efficiently. No extra clothes, no extra bag with ice packs and water bottles. Just the basics.
He did have a good time, or so he said. When I asked him what he did, he told me he just watched the other kids because that's how he learns. I asked him if he played and ran around. He told me not a lot. It broke my heart, but he seems happy. He said he likes it. So, we'll do this again tomorrow. Hoping for no tears from anyone.