Wednesday, October 9, 2013

The thing about soccer...

...is that he kind of hates it. I think. During the week he talks about it as if he loves it and he hasn't stopped talking about the goal he made a couple of weeks back. But. He doesn't play. He loves the practice prior to the game and he most certainly loves the "tunnel" and snack at the end, but the actual playing of the game? Well, not so much.

The season ends in just a few weeks and I am sure he will tell tales of how great the experience was,  but for now I am doing all I can just to keep his interest long enough to last through the game (bribes of the pumpkin patch or ice cream seem to work pretty well for this; and yes, I know that makes me a bad mom but whatever).

I would never push my kids to participate in something they didn't like, but at the same time they aren't going to quit half way through when the rest of the team is counting on them. The fact of the matter is that he's four. What is great one day is forgotten the next and my job is not to push, but rather to expose him to as many things as I can and let him carve out his own path. Just perhaps not with a soccer ball. Maybe it will be sports, maybe it will be art (doubtful), or maybe it will be something that absolutely surprises me (song writing! ceramics! woodworking!); whatever it is, though, you can bet I will be right behind him, cheering loudly.