Our kids haven't belonged to sports teams yet.
It's the big thing to do here in town, but they seemed so young to start - and then along with the fun of the team comes the craziness of the schedule - practices, games, delays, missed family dinners, homework hectic-ness - we decided to wait until the kids were just a bit older before taking all of that on.
And then about two months ago our Big Helper found out that the local Parks and Rec department was going to offer tennis lessons to kids her age come May. She really wanted to take them.
With only six kids per class and only six lessons stretched over a three-week period, my husband and I agreed that this would be a good introduction to sports, and she was super excited.
Excited until she found out that one of the tennis-lesson nights would be Wednesday. Youth group night.
The idea of having two activities on the same day stressed her. How could she finish her homework? Could she do all of that on the same day?
My husband and I talked through it all with her but decided that the ultimate decision would be hers. We were sure she could do it but were proud of the way that she stopped to consider every angle before making a commitment.
Finally she decided that she would do Wednesday night's homework on Tuesday, thus allowing her to get everywhere she had to be.
She bought her own tennis raquet with a gift card she'd been saving since Christmas and was very excited to do so, and then she headed off to sign up for the class. She got the last spot!
My Little Man and I took a blanket to the park each week and planned to watch and cheer her on ... and then storms struck ... she got pneumonia ... and the number of tennis lessons she could attend and we could watch shrunk drastically.
In the end, though disappointed at missing a few, My Big Helper was happy to go to tennis and can't wait to play more. She practices her 'ups' and 'downs' often with her raquet and her tennis balls and is looking forward to playing with her daddy this summer.
I'm so glad that she decided to go for this opportunity. So happy that she wasn't afraid to be the only girl in a whole class of boys ... that she wanted to be outside, sweating under the hot sun on the court, all the while learning something new .... that she's interested in having fun, taking chances, but also in counting the cost.
I'm thankful for tennis lessons. :-)
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I wish I would have guided my children a bit more carefully in their selection of activities when they were younger. Such smart parenting on your part!
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