'My kids' sports are ruining my marriage'

"At what point is running kids around every night and every weekend doing more good than harm?"

A mum has claimed her children’s sport has become detrimental to her family and her marriage.

American TikTok creator Abby Eckel shared the opinion about children’s sports, saying they’re “ruining families, marriages, and kids themselves”.

She feels so strongly that she has decided to pull her children out of youth sports altogether.

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“I think kids' sports are ruining families, marriages and kids themselves. Calm down, I can already feel the heat coming through the phone. You don't like that. I get it,” she said.

“My son was in two sports in the spring, and we had something every single night of the week in terms of a practice and then we had a practice or a game and then we had games on the weekends as well, and we were exhausted. Everybody was exhausted.

“I never saw my husband. We never had actual time to connect. We never had any good intimate, connected family time. 

“Everybody was tired. We were at each other's throats. We were just going and going and going and going, and I won't do it. I won't do it.”

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The American mum wasn't scared to share her controversial opinion. Picture: TikTok

"This has gotten insane"

She acknowledged that children’s sports can be important in the aspects of team building, learning responsibility, and building a sense of worth, but that’s still not enough to convince her it’s worth it.

“I know that kids sports, recreational sports, team sports are very important. I know there's a lot of lessons that come out of that. I played sports when I was a kid, but this has gotten insane,” she said.

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“My kids are six and nine, and at this level, this level of competition, the expectation that we have of kids at this age, I think it's detrimental. 

“I think it's harming more than it's helping. and I sure as s**t don't think it's helping marriages which are already struggling.”

“Marriages aren't like, on the up and up. I don't know if you know this, but like, half of them end in divorce, and I don't think burning yourselves to the ground, running kids around every single night and every single weekend is the answer.”

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A lot of other parents were in agreement with Abby's take. Picture: TikTok

"I'm not going to force myself or my kids into that"

Scary Mommy reports the influencer wrote in the caption that the experience was overwhelming with one child, let alone many, and that she would never force her kids into sport.

“I think we are forcing kids to grow up too fast. Competitive sports at 7 years old?! Are you kidding me? No wonder parents are burnt out, exhausted and marriages are suffering,” she wrote.

“I don't think kids' sports are the only reason for failing relationships, but they’re certainly not helping. At what point is running kids around every night and every weekend doing more good than harm? 

“I'm not going to force myself or my kids into that. There are plenty of other ways to learn about teamwork that doesn't consist of burning yourself out at the ripe age of 10.”

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"It's also SO EXPENSIVE!"

After the video went viral, other parents were more than happy to give their take.

“Actually agree 100 per cent,” one person wrote. “It’s like, ‘slow down Linda, your kid’s not going pro’.”

“It’s also SO EXPENSIVE!” another person wrote. “We just can’t afford it.”

Other parents said sports worked for their families.

“We love it,” one person wrote. “My kids hate when we are just sitting at home.”

“Our rule was one sport per kid in a season,” another parent said. “Prior to high school it was autumn and spring only, we took winter and summer off.”

Originally published as 'My kids' sports are ruining my marriage'