The sporting season is still in full swing, whether it’s a School sports day or other competitive sports events, parents everywhere will be heading dutifully to their children’s events to cheer on their kids.
With this in mind, we thought we’d have a bit of harmless fun here at Soreen by giving you a quick rundown of the different types of parents you’re likely to come across. Now if you do happen to fall into any of our categories, even if only slightly, please excuse us in advance and remember to keep your tongue firmly in your cheek at all times.
Super-competitive Dad
You know the type. He treats every event (even the novelty ones like the egg and spoon or sack race) as if it’s the Olympics, and his child is a world-class athlete competing against the best there is. Now of course there’s nothing wrong with encouraging your child to do as well as they can, but standing at the finishing line screaming at the top of your voice is maybe a bit much. Now we know that Mums can sometimes fall into this category too, but being Mums they’re usually not quite as ‘full on’ as the Dads version, so we’ll pretend we haven’t seen them.
The ‘I should really be at the office’ type
Basically this can be Dad, Mum or both, and you can usually spot them because they’ll be more smartly dressed than everyone else. This in itself is a statement that’s saying they’re too busy to have popped home and changed into something more casual. Other tell tale signs might be that they’re wearing a Bluetooth headset, or trying to find a shaded spot where they can use their laptop. Either that or they’re pestering an already harassed teacher about wi-fi access. This type of parent may look up from their computer or smartphone whilst their child is actually running a race, but don’t count on it.
The Hoverer
In most cases the Hoverer is a Mum and you’ll notice her because she will be standing no more than 16 inches away from her child at all times, even when they’re running in a race. By nature this type is super protective of their offspring and will be equipped with antibacterial wipes, band aids, sun cream, energy drinks and all the other equipment it takes to be a caring, but slightly over worrying parent.
The ‘Peter Pan’ Dad
We’re all familiar with the boy who never grew up, well the Peter Pan Dad never grew up either. In fact he’ll probably be wearing cut-off jeans and a back to front baseball cap so he can look like an overgrown kid as well as act like one. He’ll be ‘unleashing his inner child’ all over the place so expect lots of running about and letting off steam, including joining in the races if they’ll let him.
Well there are some of the very different types of parents you might meet on Sports Days, and speaking of variety, never forget that there’s plenty of it in the Soreen range to keep yourself and your kids going on the day itself. Whether it’s our handy size lunchbox loaves in Original or Banana flavour, which are simply perfect for giving your kids a quick boost of squidgy energy between races, or a handy pre-buttered snack pack of Soreen Original malt loaf which you can munch as a pick-me-up when you feel you’re starting to flag.
