TAR

My 6 year old stepson wants to join sports. Yeah!!! 3 months ago he wanted to be part of soccor. 1 month ago he wanted to play basketball. (I love all these sports and they are all great, but soccor wasn't starting 3 months ago and 1 month ago summer youth Bball registration was over.. I found an affordable (since we don't have much money) bigginner flag football for boys and girls age 6-8 that registration ends last day this month. When we asked if he wanted to join he said no one will take me and we said we would then he said he liked boxing, I don't think 6yrs can be in boxing... (it's will probably be something else next month).....
This flag football thing is for bigginers (he's never been on any sports team). The season starts sept.8 to oct 13, 6 game season.... So it's only about a month commitment... I think joining a sports team would do him good, he has 4 other brothers (living with his mom). And they are always being told I'll take you here and they don't end up going or they get told I'll put you in this sport and they never get registered.. They play video game all day long (after school, weekends) Plus he is more shy then his brothers who are all almost a year apart.. I believe joining sports would build his confidence. And he'd like it...
But since he said he don't want to join flag football he wants boxing, and I alway said I wasn't going to be one of those parents who make their kids join everything even when they don't want to. I just don't know what to do.... Do I sign him up or do I wait???? My mind says listen to him but my gut says sign him up....

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In memory of Cherish 12/19/1998

Kaytee

Don't put him in football if he doens't want to be. Yes boxing can start that young. You may want to see about karate as well, or kick boxing. They will have classes for kids like this. He will change his mind a billion times, and maybe next year he will want to play football. But I feel like you force them to play when they don't want to, they may always have a negative feeling towards it. KWIM?

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TAR

I know... like I said I wasn't going to be one of those parents... It's just so difficult because right before Bball registration started he said I want to play Basketball... So when registration came around I ask him if he still wanted to play and I would sign him up, he said no... So I didn't because of that fact, than no more than a week after reg. closed he said that he wanted to play Bball... Should I wait untill he asks at the right time??? I haven't had to sign any children up for sports so I'm new to all this.... I know he's going to change his mind... If we put him in boxing, and in a week he don't want to do that anymore what should I do (I looked into boxing classes and they are around $200 a month)... I won't want him to get out

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In memory of Cherish 12/19/1998

Kaytee

wELL i WOULD SAY IF HE SAYS HE WANTS TO DO SOMETHING AND THEN CHANGES. (OOPS CAPS) His mind then he must finish out whatever he started. If he still doesn't want to do it, then he doesn't sign back up but must finish. Ouch 200!!! Ok so I wouldn't do boxing lol. What about karate?

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If you can't stand behind our troops, feel free to stand in front of them!
http://www.spcnicholasidalski.com

jtee

A genernal statement, as a parent you are more likely to know what your child wants\needs better than he\she does 10 and under (give or take). Clearly not an exact science because each child is unque.

My overall bottom line is "always go with your gut". and I strongly believe in this, and it has taken me many years to understand that listening to your gut feelings is always the best move.

A person can over think a problem and rationalize themselves into doing the wrong thing because it make sense on paper, so to speak. Yeah, sometimes your gut is going to suggest you do something that rationally seems like a very bad decision, and you might even have friends and family telling you that you're doing the wrong thing (don't let them over rule your gut feels), but I firmly believe going with the gut level response is always the right decision. Extremely successful people both personally and professionally listen to their gut when making tough decision.

I highly recommend two books by Malcolm Gladwell that address this and simular ideas. "Blink" and "The Tipping Point".

TAR

I will take a look at those books jtee. But I don't think right now I'll sign him up for football even though my gut is telling me to. I think maybe if this month passes and then he wants to play football (when registation is closed). And I believe that is going to happen!! I MIGHT go about it different next time, I just don't want to sign him up when he is telling us he don't want to.. He was excited that he would be able to join football but then I said so you want to play and his shyness took over and he said no. He is a little shy at learning new and getting in there and doing new things. I'll have to give it sometime (we've only known him a year) before I can say I know for sure his being shy is keeping him from doing things he really wants to do. I called a couple of boxing places and they invited us to go meet with the instructor and meet some students, I asked my stepson if he wanted to go and he said no, I asked him if he still wanted to go into boxing, and he said "I don't know"... SO, I just don't know...

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In memory of Cherish 12/19/1998