When the Fun Stops

I am a big proponent of letting my children try activities that interest them. 

In the fall, AC decided she wanted to try gymnastics.  I was all for it.  We enrolled and I watched as AC was really challenged physically and mentally for maybe the first time in her  life.  It hasn't come easy and she feels the competitive spirit behind the sport.  It's good for her.  It's hard to watch, but I've watched her sweet spirit stretch to comprehend what she needs to do and it has been a challenge.

At the end of each session, the instructor does an evaluation and determines whether of not you are ready to move on to the next class.  AC is very well aware of the process.  She wasn't moved to the next level and she was shocked.  As painful as it was to see her hurt, I convinced myself that this was a real opportunity for character growth.  The reason being things come pretty easily for AC, which is great, but she is a girl that needs to be challenged.  We all need that, in fact.

When it came time to re-enroll for the next session, she said she didn't want to do it.  Todd and I dicussed it and decided we were going to enroll her anyway beacuse we felt her change in heart was because she felt the sting of not being moved up. 

At the first class of this session, I realized we had made a huge mistake.

HUGE.

I'll just sum it up to say she has made up in the area of comedian where she was lacking in the gymnast area.
The struggle every week has left me deading Wednesday's .  Today on the way to class I was giving my usual pep talk about trying your best and listening to instruction, when AC said, "Isn't this supposed to be fun?" 

Why, yes it is.

The truth of the matter is as much as I am proponent of of letting my children try activities that interest them, I also realize that they will likely not purse these activities as a profession, so the best I hope is they will take away the fact that physical exercise is fun and maybe they will learn some self-discipline along the way.

Oh, this parenting stuff is hard, hard, hard.