What they love to do....

8:30 am Picture day up at school 10:15 am Soccer at Vetta 11:30 am Farmer's Market to play 12:30pm Out to lunch with friends So, now we are home and Ben is just "so bored with nothing to do and no friends to play with...." I guess unless I plan on keeping him busy the entire day, I may as well do nothing with him, because it is never enough action for him anyway! I am trying to convince him to have some quiet time with books, legos, or a puzzle. Not going over well. All that tells me is that he needs more practice at "quiet time." ; ) Watched Elaina do a one on one swim lesson tonight. My husband and I are learning. Witnessing our kids do something that they themselves chose to do, rather than something we strongly suggested or chose FOR them is soooooooo much more fun! Elaina did soccer last year. She liked it. She liked running around with her friends. She liked having a uniform. She liked the IDEA of soccer. But did she ever kick the ball? Did she ever do anything in the games but blow me kisses from the sidelines? Of course not. She was 6 yrs old, and not a competitive gal. Some of these little girls were competitive soccer stars already. They were great at soccer. Elaina just was not into it. But she didn't hate it. So, this year when I weighed all the options of what I wanted for the kids to be doing for sports this fall, in other words what I wanted to be watching for 7-8 hours a week, and what I wanted to use our precious time as a family doing, I thought more seriously about it. I asked Elaina if she would rather do Soccer or Swimming. She loves to swim. She chose swimming. I asked Jack if he would rather do soccer or karate. He chose karate. I have heard zero complaining about practicing either of their new sports. I am watching them progress and be excited about their progression! They are having so much fun! What fun this is for us all! I was never a swimmer. I was never in karate. But I LOVE watching both because my kids love doing them! Who knew? In these days of over scheduled kids and ADHD kids and therapy for our kids, perhaps we as parents just need to learn one lesson. To listen to our kids.