Anonymous wrote:I’ll be the lone dissenter and suggest (gently) revisiting the topic of giving rec another try this winter. My DH was a talented swimmer growing up, but chose to participate in wrestling - he had neither the talent nor the body type to do well in that sport and his results reflected it. Realistically he wouldn’t have been Olympic bound in either sport, but he comments he wished his parents steered him in the direction of the sport he was actually good at.

He is saying that now.

At the time, when he actually would have had to practice, he probably hated going in the water

I would say that the proviso here is that you need to steer kids to sports where they can have fun and compete at some level of competency. That will keep things fun for them into the future. For most kids that will involve most sports. But, do consider more than what your kid's current interests and physical talent/size. Do consider where they will be in high school.

Yes, you have to temper things with reality. You can't do everything and choices have to be made. My daughter is 5'2" and played 4 years of college soccer. Maybe she would have been a top jockey. We will never know. If your kid is likely to be 6'6" -- it would be silly not to have them involved in sports where they could use that to their advantage.