Before I had children, I always pictured myself having boys. I’m not sure why. Maybe because there weren’t that many girls that I actually liked. I thought many of them had frivolous things they cared about and I would much rather play sports than get my nails done. I wasn't sure I'd parent girls that well.
Which is funny because I ended up having four girls in a row. Although now I believe it was an amazing blessing and what was suppose to happen. In their early years, we started out doing “typical” girl activities and like I thought, it was boring (at least for me). The turning point was when we were at dance class, and my three year old’s teacher produced an outfit that was smaller than her bathing suit. We were done with dance.
Once we moved, a whole new athletic world opened up. My kids started playing hockey, soccer and basketball. It was awesome.
Now that I have a son, he’s been getting baseball gloves and soccer balls since he was born. The problem is, he’s just not that into it. I’ve put him in general sports clinics for the last year, and more times than not, when he’s on the field or the court, he’s breaking out into a dance. He has no idea where the ball is, nor does he care.
He says he loves these clinics, and can’t wait to leave the house. He really has a great time. But it has nothing to do with the sport. While the kids are racing after the ball, my son is doing a chest roll with a pop drop and lock it move in the open area of the field. He loves to dance. Every sport he tries he uses something as a prop to dance with.
When I ask him if he’d like to take a hip hop dance class instead of soccer, he says, “no, dance is for girls.” As much as I’d like him to be successful in sports, I’d rather he just be happy and succeed at something he loves. I just can't convince him that it's OK to like something that girls like too.
So for now, I'll let him snap and roll while watching the ball roll by and hope we can bring his moves to a studio where he can be the rock star that his inner-self wants to be. I think I see an outfit smaller than his swim trunks in his future...
Filed under: life and style, parenting
