Ever had to “force” your kid into an activity?

[Anonymous]

You may need to figure out why she is resisting.

One of my kids wanted to try a martial arts and then during the first season, he was getting anxious and wanted to quit... I realized that it was anxiety about passing the belt tests, so we talked about that in a way to bring down the nerves, and he pushed through. Now he's one belt away from a black belt.

With my other son, he's never liked the team sports he tried so we let him quit, but he loves riding his bike so he does that for an hour several times a week.

I also believe kids need to do *something* to stay fit, and we talk about that. It can either be organized or not.

I signed them up for tennis lessons and got them to do it by framing it as "I thought you a gift of tennis lessons so that you will know how to play. Do you want to accept this gift?"

One of my sons is an excellent drawer so I put him in lessons and framed it as "she can help you learn new skills and you are such a good artist it can help you go farther"

With music lessons, I kind of feel that musical education is just another form of literacy that is somewhat necessary. So I also frame that as "you need to learn how music works and so this piano teacher will help you with that"


Seeing it all written out feels a little intense! But the kids are growing as a result of all this stuff.

[Anonymous]

They had to pick one activity. If they didn’t like it and wanted to quit, they had to pick another one. Eventually, they found something they liked enough to keep. If they are not trying things, they will not figure it out.

[Anonymous]

Swimming,
Cycling,
Cooking (basic),
Cleaning (vacuum, dusting, mopping),
Doing laundry (sort, fold),
Ability to iron or steam their own clothes, AND
Other chores like taking out trash, watering plants etc.

All kids need to learn these skills before they hit 12.