Those people who know me are well aware of my love for sports. For those that didn't previously know that, well, now you know. When my wife and I go out to eat she tries to make sure that we don't go somewhere that has televisions showing a game because she knows my attention will not be where she wants it. If by chance I do convince her to eat at one of those establishments she strategically picks a table with television viewing capabilities that are impeded by people, plants, or poles. At that point I drink lots of water so that I have to go use the bathroom frequently. I then pass by those mesmerizing monitors that display scores and updates. Every now and then I am really lucky and find out that in the bathrooms there are televisions to view. The best part is you can see the monitor if you are sitting or standing.

Due to my uncontrollable obsession my wife likes to tease me and often asks what I am going to do when my son chooses to do ballet over baseball. I am usually confident in my response and say that "I won't have to worry about that". Maybe I should be concerned because yesterday I noticed his hair was getting real long and I told him that we should probably cut it. He told me "No" and then started running around saying he was a girl. I still wasn't terribly concerned until later that day when I remembered that the only movie he wanted to watch the previous week was a Barbie movie. Then to top things off as I was packing the diaper bag for church I realized that we had a plethora of Princess Fruit snacks wrapped in pink wrappers. I thought that perhaps they were my daughters but then remembered that she doesn't eat solid foods yet. After putting all of these clues together I started to think about that whole ballet thing. Here is the conversation that I had with myself. Does this worry me? Yes. Should I be worried? Maybe. Is there anything wrong with ballet? No, as long as it doesn't involve my son. Should I support my son's interests? Yes, as long as they are legal. Should I really be concerned about this, he is 2 ½ years old? Probably not. Should I be concerned about this when he 15 years old? ..... (hesitating, hesitating....) ... I guess not.

We can't force our interests on our children. I love sports and will have my kids try them. If they don't like them I won't force the issue. If I were to force it chances are good my son would end up resenting me and not enjoying the sport at all. It is like the part of the movie "Field of Dreams" when Kevin Costner is telling James Earl Jones about his relationship he had with his father while growing up. His dad forced him to practice baseball and it soon became comparable to "taking out the trash". I don't think we want our kids to feel this way about their extracurricular activities. It is ok to push our kids and support them and want them to be the best that they can. What we can't get caught up doing is picking those interests for them. We need to expose our kids to things in order to find their talents and interests and then at that point encourage them to be successful.

Do I really need to worry about my son being a ballerina? No. Yes I would love for him to play sports and be successful but I know that I shouldn't force that. He will decide where his interests are and then choose what he would like to pursue. Whether this deals with extracurricular activities or a career choice, I will let him choose what makes him happy and then I will cheer him on and be supportive. During this whole process I will continue to tell him how proud of him I am.