It’s Mother’s Day, and the mothers and grandmothers of Vicksburg and Warren County are just as likely to be found root, root, rooting for their children at ball fields as they are helping with homework, folding laundry or serving up supper.

For Melissa Breithaupt, just one example, softball and baseball games are part of the daily rhythm of family life.

The 38-year-old mother of three is at fields off Halls Ferry or Bazinsky roads two or three nights a week, sometimes watching as many as five games, depending on the schedules of her children, ages 4, 5 and 11.

“The 4- and 5-year-olds pretty much grew up out here on the baseball field,” Breithaupt said while seated in a lawn chair along the first-base-line at Bluff Field. “When they were babies, I would sit on the hill under a shade tree with one on my lap and the other one in a walker, watching Garrett play.”

Brody, her 4-year-old, usually has T-ball games on Mondays. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, 5-year-old Morgan might have a softball game and 11-year-old Garrett, a baseball game.

If Morgan’s and Garrett’s games are at the same time, Melissa attends one while husband Brian attends the other.

Brian Breithaupt, a real-estate appraiser with a side construction business, is also in a men’s basketball league.

“I told him, I guess we just really didn’t have enough to do,” Melissa said and laughed. There are days she hopes Brian doesn’t have a game, because it means the family will get to sit down to dinner together at home.

Jennifer Stennett is mother to 7-year-old Conner Slaughter, who’s been playing rec baseball since he was 4. He has games a couple of nights a week and practices on a third night.

“Sometimes it gets a little difficult depending on what time the games are,” said Stennett, a nurse for a Vicksburg urologist. “It can be tough to get him to games, get him fed, get the homework done, and then bath and bedtime, but for baseball it’s worth it. They enjoy it and they get a lot out of it.”

Conner plays both spring and fall ball. “I love it,” Stennett said of being a baseball mom.

The National Council of Youth Sports found in a 2008 study that about 66 percent of boys and 34 percent of girls participate in youth sports, many playing more than one.

Three out of four children ages 5 to 18 play at least one sport at some point during the year, with the highest participation, 34 percent, in spring, followed by 30 percent in summer.

Another study, “Go Out and Play: Youth Sports in America,” commissioned by the Women’s Sports Foundation, documented a positive correlation between children’s health and participation in sports and that “families with children who participated in sports and exercise reported being happier and more content.”

Good thing, because those families are busy.

Parks and Recreation Director Joe Graves estimates that 15 to 18 baseball games are played each Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday on the six Halls Ferry fields, and an additional six to nine softball games at three Bazinsky fields. The parking lots are handling twice the volume for which they’re designed.

Seasons, depending on the child’s age and league, run from April 12 to early June, coinciding with the closing weeks of the school year, critically important student achievement tests — high school subject area tests in April and elementary MCT2 tests in May, and, to some extent, with high school athletic schedules.

At the same time, education officials are sending home reminders that kids need nine to 10 hours of sleep and nutritious meals to optimize their test performance.

The mothers have to plan.

Breithaupt, a nurse who works weekends at River Region Medical Center, said she had made chicken salad earlier in the day and the family would have sandwiches when they got home after 9 p.m.

Still, “Everybody’s a little cranky this time of year,” she said.

Then there’s the money.

Baseball league fees range from $30 for T-ball to about $65 for the older levels. Softball fees are $35 to $40, depending on age. Then there is equipment — cleats, fielding and batting gloves, bats.

“He’s growing so fast, we usually buy brand-new cleats every year,” said Stennett. This year Conner also needed a new glove and bat. Cleats run around $50, she said, a good glove can run from $40 up into the hundreds and aluminum bats are $80 to $100 and more.

Parents also spring for individual and team photos — another $30 to $40, Stennett said.

In addition to the 44 million boys and girls who participate in sports, more than 7 million adults are involved as coaches, umpires and referees and in administrative positions, the NCYS found. Adult involvement can add to the pleasures as well as the demands, and bring a multigenerational perspective from the sidelines.

Carol Steed, a retired Corps of Engineers program analyst, comes out to watch her 7-year-old grandson, Brandon, play. She keeps an eye on Brandon’s little brother, Ryan, who’s nearly 3, and offers encouragement to granddaughter Haley, 10, the team’s batgirl.

Steed also is there to support her son, Ray, who is the coach of Brandon’s team.

“I come and watch every game,” Steed said.

Of Morgan’s softball games, Melissa Breithaupt said, “That’s the funnest age.” Winning and scores don’t matter. Everyone plays, everyone bats and then they take places in the field while the other team bats.

At this level, parents are allowed on the field to help teach and train the kids. The competitive instinct hasn’t fully kicked in, Breithaupt said, and it’s not uncommon for a girl standing on base after she’s gotten a hit to reach over and try to field a ball hit by one of her teammates. They’re learning the game and having fun, without worrying about the outcome, she said.

“The girls softball league was started to teach the fundamentals at a young age,” said VGSA president Leo Embry. “We want to help develop the good skills they need in high school as they compete around the state.”

Competition among the boys has definitely been set by age 7, however, said Stennett. “It’s fun. They get really excited. They’re starting to understand the game and take more pride in the score.”