Kids and Activities

Its that time again. Time to sign Emily up for soccer. She played in the fall, with Scott as her coach, and it was a great experience. Before soccer, Emily participated in a year-long dance class where she took ballet and tap. That..well... that wasn't such a great experience as Emily quickly got tired of it, and the recital... well we all remember this don't we?

But before we just sign her up for soccer, Scott and I wonder if there is some other activity that she would enjoy. Should we see if she would like gymnastics? Karate? T-ball? What if we pay the registration fees for whatever activity we think she would like best, only to find out she hates it? Do we really make a four year old child stick with something that she really had no idea what it was all about to begin with? Lucky for us, Emily sticks it out, or at least she did with the dance thing. And she liked soccer, so that was no problem.

I guess my issue is that I want to expose Emily to as many different activities as possible so that she can have the final say as to what she would like to do. But how can she say she's interested in children's theatre if we never expose her to that? Or whatever other activity.

The older I get, the more I value my experiences with extra-curricular activities as a child. Yes, most of them were athletic, but as a young girl I got to play volleyball, basketball, softball. I ran cross-country. I learned how to jump hurdles, high jump, and throw a shot-put and discus. And of course I participated on a swim team. When I came to the age when I needed to focus on one of these, I chose swimming. But how awesome was it that I had been exposed to so many different things?

This experience was very rare, and I wish I could replicate it for my children. I guess the best thing we can do is expose Emily to different activities as a spectator. Any other ideas?