Right now I’m staring at a yellow piece of paper. It’s a sign-up sheet for spring soccer at the local YMCA. No. 1 has already expressed no interest in soccer. No. 2, though, has said she wants to play.
I try not to discourage my children from doing anything, especially anything new. But I just don’t know how dedicated she’ll be to soccer, which she has never seen played nor ever played. I’m not even sure she knows what a soccer ball looks like. Is this a sad commentary on my mom skills? No, football and baseball are more popular in our house.
If she had asked me to sign her up for a daily ballroom dancing class, I would have no question that she’d be able to stick with it. But soccer?
OK, so I can hear you saying, but Michelle how will she know if she likes it if you don’t let her try? You’re totally right. And this is part of the cunundrum that I’m in. No. 2 is five and I feel like in this point of a five-year-old’s life there is (on one hand) a ton of learning to do and (on another hand) too much concept and strategy in organized sports.
Last summer, when No. 1 was 7, was the first year we allowed No. 1 to play organized sports. Baseball. Ah how we love baseball in our house (go Cards!). Living in a small town, we went with the only baseball league around. The kids on No. 1’s team were roughly between the ages of 7 and 9. Some of these kids had years–YEARS!–of experience. My son, however, was the one in right field picking daisies.
He loved it and I felt like it was a wonderful experience for him. The whole point, I thought, was to have fun. They’re first graders–save the competition for high school. But I couldn’t help but wonder if he missed out on some crucial learning because we didn’t sign him up for T-ball when he was 3 and let him work his way up.
So here I am, with No. 2 at 5, wondering if I can offer more sports structure to my daughter by starting earlier. She already goes to ballet once a week, and, frankly, would go eight days a week if there were such a thing here for five year olds.
For a while, we had a rule in our house: No organized sports until first grade because they can’t grasp the concepts nor do they have the attention span at any younger age. I think I’ve talked myself into ditching that rule.
