Welcome to the HSBBW. It seems like this might have been a tough thread to begin your first postings, as some of us oldtimers have pretty strong opinions about these issues ... especially if we have seen them or experienced them ourselves.
Hopefully personal feelings and/or preconceived notions don't cause those seeking advice to confuse 'something you don't want to hear' with negativism. I suspect that when we hear something we don't want to hear, we interpret it as negativism (quite often). If someone is expressing their opinion based on factors in their life (similar situation, years of experience, etc), and it differs from what you anticipated when you made your post, it is not necessarily negativism. It is (their) reality ... as they know it and have experienced it ... even if it isn't your reality. If you are treated respectfully when someone answers your question ... even if they don't agree with you or you don't like what they say ... I would hope that it should be enough and a simple "I don't happen to agree with you on this" is sufficient to get your point across.
As in many situations, IMHO, there is often a valid reason to change one's mind about a decision they have made. In this case, it is your son's decision to play baseball at a particular school, which he now regrets. It is a shame that he (and you) didn't see this in advance, but hopefully it can be remedied to everybody's satisfaction.
I agree with shortstopsmom on this (as I do on many of her very wise posts):
quote:Go with your gut about your own personal situation and never let a message board make/break your decision. When you come to an open forum, you need to understand that you are going to get opinions from all across the spectrum & from multiple directions. Some might hit ya right between eyes, others will be far off.
Use what helps you.
PS ... TPM ... sorry if I pirated the thread further ... I will stop now
PPS ... While our son was in college, I learned that he made a special effort to get to know the coaches on a closer level ... he stopped by their offices AT LEAST ONCE A WEEK to just sit with them and chew the fat (old-timer term). They got to know him better as a person and he got to see them in a different light off the field. Some people considered it 'brown-nosing' but personally, I thought it was pretty clever. I have actually recommended this to other players and parents since then because I think it was beneficial to all ... it gave him a new perspective on the game as THEY saw it, and it gave them a new perspective on him ('cause they obviously didn't believe all the wonderful things I said about him LOL ).