I’m a firm believer that when a player sings up for a youth sport, he and his family do so with the understanding it’s a commitment to the team.

That means that practices and games should take priority over any other extracurricular activities that take place during the season.

However, I’m also a firm believer that kids are kids, not professional football players.

Our family rule is that you can miss one game a season for a personal reason like attending a birthday party or some other fun event. Last weekend my son took his “pass” so he could go camping with his best friend who, a year ago, moved out of the neighborhood and so the time they spend together is much less than it used to be. It also happened to be my son’s first camping trip with anyone.

His coach’s response when I told him that he would miss a game because he was going on a camping trip: “I think that’s great. Tell him to have a great time. You only get to be a kid once.”

Since my son took a game off each of the previous two seasons while playing for this same coach, his positive response wasn’t unexpected. Yet his reaction reaffirmed I was doing the right thing by allowing him to miss a game for a reason other than studying for a big test, injury or illness.

When my son arrived home and jumped out of the truck, he didn’t ask how his team did. Instead, with a huge smile on his face he summed up his trip in one sentence: “I’ll never forget my first camping trip because I got to spend three straight days with my very best friend.”

It wasn’t until later that night when he finally asked if his team won. The delayed question about the game reaffirmed that we made the correct decision giving him a pass.

After all, he only gets to be a kid once.

Jon Buzby has been involved in and writing about youth sports for the past 30 years, originally as a coach and board member with his now-adult son and most recently "just as a dad" with his 8- and 10-year-old sons. Jon is an award-winning writer and his latest book, “Not an Expert, Just a Dad … In this Crazy Game Called Life,” is available on Amazon. Send comments or future blog topics you'd like to see to JonBuzby@hotmail.com and follow him @YouthSportsBuzz on Twitter.