Soccer Mom Essentials for the Summer!
Trying to find products that actually work for your athlete (and you) in the dead heat of summer has been a serious journey, especially in North Texas! Buying items that are a complete flop despite their “promising description” is one of the most annoying and sometimes costly endeavors when that heat shows up!
I’ve been there more times than I can count sweating my butt off and hoping my kid doesn’t fall over of heat exhaustion! There was one specific time when my daughter had to ask her coach to take her out of her soccer game due to her getting dizzy and having muscle cramps. My mom guilt immediately set in (yay mom guilt) and I started looking for solutions to help my whole family get through the blazing hot soccer leagues and tournaments during the summer!
In this blog post I will be sharing the best solutions I have found in creating a faint free and un-dehydrated (I know, that’s not a word but I’m using it!!) summer of soccer! I’ll be covering:
Dehydration and what I’ve discovered helps my family the most
My favorite items that have helped keep us cool on the field and on the sideline
Extra items and ideas that might not help with the heat but that you should absolutely have with you
Everything in this list has helped me have peace of mind in the heat while my kids bust their booties on that soccer field! I have also selfishly benefitted from this list so I can be cool and comfortable and last the whole day outside at a tournament being that crazy soccer mom!!
Finding great solutions for dehydration
Raise your hand if you used a certain “replenishing drink” that starts with a “G”?! I could raise both hands for how long I thought it was a great way to hydrate my little athletes! When you stop and start to look at the ingredients and the amount of sugar (not to mention the color dye) in just one bottle, your mind should be blown! If you read any legit article on dehydration, sugar is a huge contributing factor not to mention the links to cancer from consuming dye. Let’s also be honest, consuming that much sugar isn’t healthy in general even if we weren’t talking about the dehydration that sugar can cause. I also know it’s hard to find drinks your kids actually like that have less sugar. This is where our journey started!
I’ll spare you the complete run around on how I got to this point because its truly long. When I started to look at these post game drinks as a necessity instead of a treat, my views changed on the quality and purpose of those drinks. Doing my own research took a lot of time and I’m here to share so you don’t have to go through the run-a-round!
Drum roll please!! My number one safe and healthy electrolyte powder that my kids (and myself) really love is LMNT Electrolyte Powder! This powder has an amazing amount of potassium, sodium, and magnesium to help your athlete replenish their bodies without all the junk attached to it! The best part: my kids love the taste so it’s not a full on debate to get them to drink it! And a huge bonus for me, and I’m sure for other moms out there, is that it comes in powder form so you can just leave some in the car and its ready to be added to any water you have on hand! LMNT Electrolyte Powder has been a game changer for my girls and I’m not looking back!
Beat the heat items that have been life savers
No one likes to fry in the heat so I’m here to share all the products I’ve found to be the most helpful and reliable on the sidelines! Not all things are created to last an entire year or even a season which can be super frustrating and a hit on the bank account if you’re not careful. I’m here to share what has lasted season after season (yay!!) Without fail!
My number one product that I can’t stress enough are cooling towels. Hands down, one of the best things that has ever been created (lol)! I’ve gone through my fair share of different brands. Some fall apart over time from regular use or going through the washer. The best cooling towels I have found are called Chilly Pads! You can wash them and even cut them down to the size you want and they will last for years! There are various sizes that you can buy which is helpful if you don’t trust yourself to cut one of the larger towels they offer. We use this Chilly Pad for the sideline because its larger and can cool you down quicker. You can cut this one down to smaller sizes if you want. When my girls are at practice they are aloud to wear the smaller version of the big one because it doesn’t weigh them down or get in the way. This is the smaller version of the big Chilly Pad for practice and what I wear on the sidelines to help keep cool!
The easiest way to use Chilly Pads are to dunk them in a little ice chest of ice water. You can definitely just pour water on them and they will cool but if you want the coldest result I would suggest getting a little cooler like this (cheaper route) or this (which is more expensive but will last you years). I keep it next to the bench on the sidelines so they can dip into it at halftime or when they are subbed out of the game. We also bring it to practice and they are life savers!
My second go to that’s super easy, the kids love it, and its super convenient is a hand held mister by Core Gear! I love that the kids can take it to games and practices and spray their faces and hair to cool down. If its just hot and not crazy hot then we bring their sprayer as a replacement for the towels. I love that this mister comes with a neoprene case to keep the water cold and an additional strap for transport! The girls also like spraying each other with it so entertainment is included!!
My third go to is a little bit more high maintenance and a little less convenient, meaning it involves more effort on your part to get it to the field and set it up but is one hundred percent worth it! If you don’t have one of these Ryobi Misting Fans, then you are missing out! This is something you can bring for the whole team to enjoy when they are on the sidelines at a game roasting (and your coach will thank you!)! This misting fan can be hooked up to a hose at home but if your bringing it to a game you will need a 5 gallon bucket for it to sit on top of and pull water from. We put a bag of ice with water inside the bucket so a super cold mist will come out. If you don’t care that its cold or not, just put water in!
My fourth and final life saver is creating shade! I really do like bringing my own shade but I am not a fan if its not a quick set up or tear down. I love this visor if I just want to cover my face and enjoy the sun if its not too hot. I also really love a good umbrella and I’ve discovered this umbrella to be my favorite! Umbrellas are space savers in the car and carry easy to that field that’s all the way on the other side of a sports complex that has no parking near it, lol. Now if you want to get all fancy and provide more high maintenance shade then get this ez up! We will bring this for tournaments as we are at the field most of the day, even between games and need to create our own shade. Always love me some good shade!
Extra items that saved me!
I bought this wagon that folds up really small but is super sturdy and durable at the same time to carry all of these things especially when my husband can’t make it to the games to help me!
If you’re a mom, you should always have a first aid kit in your car! I wanted specific things in my kit so I put mine together instead of buying the pre made first aid kit. I bought this case to hold all the items that would be most useful for us. The first item I added was Welly bandaids. These are literally the best ever - they don’t leave a gross residue after that stays on your skin and they also stay on in the water which saves you money! Here is a complete list of other items that we have in our kit to make life easier in a pinch: tums, ibuprofen for kids and adults, reusable ice pack, q tips, Neosporin, benadryl cream, liquid benedrly, bandage tape, gauze, eye drops, tweezers, nail clippers, and tiny scissors.
My husband and I have always just used beach chairs to sit in for games until I saw that stores were starting to sell outdoor chairs that could rock back and forth! My soccer mom life was instantly changed forever haha! I love this chair and bring it with me to every game. I can rock back and forth at those nail bitter games with ease! I will say this, its not very compact and can be a bit on the heavy side but to me its been my favorite chair ever!
Thank you for reading my long list of favorite items to bring to the soccer field, I truly appreciate it so much! I’m sure this list will always be changing as I find new products that are useful throughout the year! I also plan on making my favorites list for the winter so stay tuned for that post coming up soon!
