Blended Family Holidays – A challenge with public schools

As the holidays grow ever so near – our plans for the holidays begin to unfold. While my blended family is hinging on the “broken side” I still have an interest in what happens within these four walls and to whom they happen to.

My stepson has been planning and looking forward to going to his mother’s for the four day holiday weekend. He does participate in school sports and this has created a problem.

He explained to the coach that ‘by law’ he has to go to his mother’s in another state for the holiday. There is a wrestling meet that will take place on Saturday over the holiday weekend and one practice that he will miss as the result.

The coach informed him there may be some punishment if he misses both.

Have I said lately just how glad I am to be homeschooling my kids?

My husband seems to think he should be punished because he made the commitment to the team and he should follow through on his commitment.

Let me just state that my stepson told his dad he didn’t want to wrestle and his dad is making him – because DAD loves wrestling.

Now, my thoughts are:

1. Schools and coaches should NOT punish a child for spending time with a non-custodial parent who lives in another state. IF the mother lived closer than a 2 hour drive, I could see them trying to make accommodations to get the kid to his obligation.

2. Since DAD is the one who wanted the kid to wrestle, the dad should be the one to take the punishment for the kid.

3. Dad should not make the kid feel like he should be choosing his school and team over his parent.

Please tell me if I’m off base here. I know I don’t think clearly most times and that I do tend to look at life through rose colored glasses – but this is the type of thing that has me growing more and more distant from school sports.

We aren’t living in the same times as when we were teens. Most families are blended and during the holidays, kids should be able to enjoy the holidays with their families.

Thoughts?