I have always felt childhood is an important time in life and that kids need time to be kids. I have resisted putting Diva in activities. This despite her begging to do one thing or another. I did cave and enroll her in dance 3 years ago. She was a few weeks away from being 3 and had been begging to do dance. So I bribed her. If she would start peeing in the potty all the time she could do dance. So she started peeing in the potty and became a dancer.
Diva's dance class does a little bit of tumbling during class from time to time. She LOVES this. We have talked about letting her do gymnastics one day a week. I have gone back and forth about letting her do this. Could we afford it? Would she like it? Did we have time for this? Would it be stressing her to do dance and gymnastics every week? I had a million questions in my mind. I did some research. I found an affordable place not far from the house that had an afternoon class we could do. We started last week. Diva loves it.
We moved into our current house when Diva was 20 months old. We live very close to a YMCA where they are always having soccer practice in the evenings. Diva has watched those kids for years. From the moment she could form the words she has asked to play "soccer ball." Ugh...it has never interested me. I always told her that when she turned 5 she could play soccer. I said this thinking that she would lose interest or forget that I had told her that. Well, guess who got enrolled into soccer today? Yup. Oh yeah, I'm going crazy. She kindly reminded me that she will be 5 in a few weeks and she really really wanted to play "soccer ball." I explained that she would have to run a lot and that the soccer ball hurts when it hits you and it would probably hit her a lot. Yeah. I rock as a mom. Don't judge me. All I could think about was those really cold Saturday mornings watching 5 year olds chase a ball. She didn't care about any of this. She was insistent that she wanted to play soccer. Dang. So, Mr. Mayer and I talked about it. He said it could lead to college scholarships in the future. My plan is to let her try it and get it out of her system. She is my kid after all. I have no athletic ability whatsoever. It's possible I could have passed this gene on to the Diva.
I'm sure this next part is going to sound silly. But, I worry. Are we doing too much? I mean, she is only 5. And we are going from one activity to 3. Someone said to me today that maybe this will help adjust her attitude. She is going to have to be a team player and have other adults give her directions. Maybe? I can only hope on that front. What I have been doing up to this point hasn't had any affect. She is just a spirited strong willed child. Maybe all this activity will reign her in a little. Or, maybe all this activity will over stress her and put things in a tailspin. Ack! Am I ruining her childhood? I would like to think that I am providing her with opportunities. Opportunities I never had. These things weren't an option for me growing up for one reason or another. I have a strong desire to provide my kids with the things I missed out on. But, what am I going to do when the Dudes are bigger and are wanting to do activities? Let everyone do one thing? Let them do what they want? Thank goodness I have a few years to figure that out. How does everyone else do it?
All I can say, despite my misgivings and questions I have one very happy little girl. One happy little girl that has gotten greens all week at school. This makes for a very happy Mommy and Daddy.
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