To Push or Not to Push Your Kid ...

To push or not to push your kid, and if so, how hard?  That is the question or questions ...

Okay, I admit it, when my oldest, Stormie, was little she needed a little pushing in the sports department - and I

dutifully obliged.  Our Saturday mornings were filled with soccer and basketball games that she always required

convincing to participate in.  Yes, there were battles and no, I did not relent, UNTIL middle school.  By that point.

she had come out of her shell, found her inner athlete and was far more excited about sports than she ever had

been, so I cut her loose and told her I would leave it up to her to decide what sports she wanted to play, if any. 

After giving it some thought, she decided to play soccer and volleyball and join the swim team.  Imagine her

surpirse, and mine, when she was chosen as captain of both her soccer and vollyball teams and the swim team

took the first place trophy in the finals!

As a high-schooler she decided to join the cheer squad and participate in the rigorous dance program her school

offered - and now in college, she is still pursuing dance as a sport and I can rest easy that my job had been done

right in the early years with her. 

.

Now cut to a couple of weeks ago, we're at a bar-b-que wtih friends and the girls start to do cartwheels on varying

levels.  A friend comments of my little one, who has just done an impressive

one-handed cartwheel, that she must take gymnastics lessons.  I can feel

my heart shrink a bit as I admit that she does not.  You see, in complete

contrast to Stormie, who did not really find her niche in dance until she was

older, my little Holiday is a natural gymnast - and she knows it.  She

cartwheels around the house and practices her handstands, round offs, and

bridges for literally hours at a time.  Interestingly though, she has only asked to take lessons a couple of times, and

both times, I have told her no.  I can't help but worry that between her natural ability and her small size, she will feel

pushed into pursuing it on a competitive level, which I would't want her to do - too many body issues involved, both

image and physically, in my opinion, to make it worth it. 

So now I struggle with the decision that I will allow her to take lessons - just for fun - because let's face it, as

parents, we are proud of our kids and that pride, if left unchecked, can blur our better judgement - and before we

know it, we find ourselves pushing our kids way too hard and killing all the joy of the sport for them. 

Yes, to push or not push is a very delicate question, and the right answer will ulitmatley vary from child to child.