For instance, if we choose to keep traveling in warmer climates, it is unlikely our girls will get very proficient at skiing at a younger age... but they might become pretty good surfers! If we are not in one place for a full season, they cannot try a team sport, like soccer for instance (they haven't asked so far...). Not that any of this is a big deal, but we have decided to give this some thought...
If we'd live in the Yukon, the girls could be part of a great orienteering team (a sport JF adores and that the girls like too!).
We also noticed that it is easier to have active children in a setting that is constantly changing because we are always in exploration mode. It is more tempting (even for us!) to go hike a new trail, try a new bike ride, etc. than go for a walk behind our house at home (even if we have beautiful trails right in our back yard: it's the same trail every day). However, we also noticed that it is motivating to get moving when friends are there!
Then hop
on one foot like one of the local birds, run like a deer in the forest
and touch 10 trees and run back and touch 10 more. 
Jump like a frog, of course!
And jumping jack like bats (there were more...)!
Should we choose to stay put and not travel in case they ask to play soccer? Well, no. I don't think so. But we are putting a lot of thought into our next moves because we realize that our girls are growing and that the decisions we make today are influencing who they are becoming more and more. And sports are just one aspect of it, of course.
in this country, sports aren't overall as important as they are to North Americans. when I grew up, a bicycle and a pair of skates to ride around the block with neighbors were our "sports". nowadays, cities aren't as safe, parents are busier, and sports and activities in general as time filling occupations for kids are sprouting.
ReplyDeletein our case, we're a sport family only because my boys chose their sport, and are going passionately and intensively after it. most of our friends think us as weird, and "can't you just give them a ball and tell them to kick it in the garden?" is their thinking when they see how their sport activities are keeping us busy. but it's not the sport per se, it's the passion and the dedication they show that make us happy to do what we do for their tennis.
This is very interesting, Francesca! I think that when children pursue a sport with genuine passion that has not been instilled by the desire of the parents to see him succeed in it, we really have to encourage them as best as we can. And yes, it takes a lot of work and compromise and dedication on the parents part, but it is so wondeful for the children.
ReplyDeleteWhat I see more and more however here in America, are children that are in sports because it is another area where you have to perform and excel... Those kids are stretch thin and most of them are not passionnante about it.