Kids and their activities

Children start participating in activities at very early ages. Anything from gymnastics to soccer to baseball to swimming to dance to karate and everything in between are offered. If the parent is not careful, all of the sudden the child is signed up for 4 activities and every evening of the week and every weekend is filled with something. Throw in more than one child, and now each parent is going somewhere different. Jen and I try to have the kids involved on no more than two activities at any one time. So far, we have been able to stick to that rule. We have been tempted to break it, but so far we are standing firm.

I am sure that it has always been this way, but I do not remember being involved in anything at 3 years old, and I turned out semi-normal. On the other hand, I imagine that Jen was dancing at 3 years old and she is a lot closer to normal than I. So, I guess both ways can work. Currently, our household is gearing up for spring activities. A is doing Little League and karate. League City Little League (LLCL) sign up took place last Saturday. When it was time to pay, A heard the amount that we owed and exclaimed, "That is a lot of money." It can be expensive to have fun. To help A have a little more fun this year in LCLL, I have enrolled him in hitting and throwing lessons at a baseball academy. A likes to do well and gets very frustrated when he struggles. Last season he had a rough start, so we are trying to avoid that this year. He has had one lesson so far, and it went very well. He had a great time and really liked the instructor. It was evident in his performance during the lesson that what he was being told was helping him. We have worked on the skills a few times since the lesson and he is enjoying it.

Karate is another story. It starts tonight and he is not looking forward to it. I have asked him why, and he says that it is boring. He enjoys the sparring, but does not enjoy working on the skills. He has three years invested in karate and is a red belt. I do not want to force him to go, but I do not want him to throw it away either. I told him to try it tonight. One of his friends became a red belt at the end of last semester, and I think that he will like that. Who knows?

A2 has startred dance classes at Royal Academy. Jen took classes at Royal Academy when she was a little girl. It is pretty cool that they are taking dance classes at the same academy. She has class once a week. The above picture was taken on her first day of class. Before she was placed into a class, she had to attend tryouts. I can only imagine what dance tryouts for three year olds looks like. One thing about the dance class seems a little extreme to me. All of the students must look the same. They must all have their hair in a bun, wear pink tights, and a black leotard. The tap shoes must have black elastic for the lace and not black ribbon. I must admit that she looks adorable in her dance gear.

Dance is going to be A2's only spring activity. She was involved in gymnastics, but that ended on Monday. On Monday, she had "Show Day" at the Little Gym. She did a floor routine, beam routine, and bar routine that they had been working on in class. She had a great time and did a great job after getting over her initial shyness. A2 is always a little nervous when things are different. She had gotten used to me not being in the gym with her. On Show Day, the parents are in the gym, and this threw her off her game a little to start. I have to give credit to the staff at the LIttle Gym of Friendswood. We transferred over to this gym when the gym where had been attending closed unexpectedly. They did a great job of making us feel welcome. A2 was treated like a princess and they were very patient with her. A2 enjoyed her time there very much. Thank you.

Two kids, three activities. Two are certain to continue and one is on life support. Who knows what the rest of the semester will bring. One thing is for sure, it will be well documented.

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