Shawn was at a dental meeting last night. The kids and I hung out together over dinner.
Quite an interesting conversation emerged.
They each were naming activities/sports that they have participated in, in the past, and evaluating whether they were worth the effort/time spent doing them, etc.
We have a family rule that if you sign up to do something, even if you find that you hate it the first try... you have to commit to finish the season/session and then we will evaluate the activity at the end. Certain activities, like violin, I made them stick with a longer period of time and even then they had to present an awful good case to drop the activity.
The kids personalities sure showed in this conversation:
Savannah is a ponderer! She has tried the widest range of activities... gymnastics, soccer, piano, violin, softball, horseriding lessons. She has some regrets... wishes she had stuck to some of these activites, wonders if she would have been really good if she had pursued some further... violin... soccer. Mentioned she would still like to play soccer, which she was always very good at... but her last season was an intense frustration so she quit after it. She is my evaluator... I had to remind her that experiences can be just THAT... experiences... not things to mark as 'failures' or agonize over... incredible, wonderful, amazing, experiences... can be as simple as that. Not sure she bought it, snicker. That is who she is, strong internal drive!
Christian is a 'plow through life' kinda guy. The more experiences the better. go, Go, GO!!! He doesn't fair well with scheduled activities. He likes to do things he loves on his own timeline. So while he was always good at sports... he was a bear to get to practices and games. Which translates to no fun for me! He did play soccer and was great at it, but chose baseball and stuck with that until he aged out of the league. No regrets... moves on swiftly. Looking for the next adventure!
Ty is stubborn. Have I mentioned that before? Stubborn as a mule... stubborn. He is also extremely athletic. I truly believe the boy could play any sport well. Back in 2006 he played soccer for the first time. At that age, it is a funny mess of an experience... words like swarm ball come to mind. But Ty was intense, even at the age of 4. He wasn't silly, he didn't run willy nilly... he always had eye contact with coaches. He was good! But after the season... he said no more soccer. What? Why? He said he didn't like it. Sigh. So he moved on to baseball. Hooked! Drove me crazy as to when his next practice/game was. Practiced out back by himself constantly. Picked up the game instantly. And still, loves to play baseball. Has not shown even an ounce of interest in anything else. So I continue to pray with this youngest one of mine... please let stubborn translate into intense focus in his life and THEN I will feel some contentment with this incredibly hardheaded son!
So, I hunted down some OLD photos last night. They have never been put in an album or posted anywhere. They are just too blasted cute to lay in the bottom of a file. I want to document the one and only season of soccer in Ty's life.
A flashback to 2006!
What I remember most about that soccer season with Ty... sweaty spiked hairdo, he hated the chin guards, wonderful coaches, great little kids- including an amazon tall gorgeous gal -as teammates, RedHooooooots, aunts coming to cheer him on, and each and every time Ty scored he looked to the sideline to make sure we saw it!
Enjoy the cuteness!
"Home is an invention on which
1 comment:
Sounds like my Heath and your Christian have some things in common. :) Finding the things they enjoy and are good at can be frustrating, but rewarding all at the same time...ok some of the rewarding parts actually come later, but it sounds better the way I said it the first time. :)
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