I didn’t want to let my youngest play baseball this year. I have thought so many times that the one small thing I wanted in one of my kids was never going to happen. When I envisioned our future family, we would be filled with sports and music. I would happily be cheering them on at games and encouraging them when learning to play an instrument.
My daughter doesn’t have one competitive bone in her body. She hates sports and when she wanted to play the flute I taught myself the basics of it from her book. Then we went to her first concert and it was plain to see…..She was tone deaf and hated band. That’s ok I thought, I have 2 boys.
Ian loves Boy Scouts but other competitive sports not so much. How did these kids not get any competitiveness from my side of the family? Ian attempted baseball, I cheered him on, taught him to bat and catch, but it was a no go. When it came time for an instrument he admitted he loved music, but my with perfect pitch son had no interest.
I didn’t think I could look to my youngest. He has a heart defect. You know the kind that is never detected in a kid until they fall over on the football field our basketball court? It was found by accident when doctors wanted to have a sonogram of his chest because it is inverted. Quinn calls this the hole in his chest. We saw a pediatric cardiologist from the U of M who decided it was something to be aware of but as long as he couldn’t hear the murmur it was ok and that the hole in his heart would close on its own. I regularly have our family doctor listen for the murmur and check him out before doing any activity.
That brings me back to baseball and Quinn. He insisted on playing, and at first I said no. After his hospital stay this Winter he’s been a little run down. I was afraid it really wasn’t a good idea but I think I was wrong. Right now I’m watching him on the field and he’s doing fantastic. I’ve also been informed that he wants to play trumpet next year. Yes! I guess the third child was a charm.
(I want to add one thing here. I want my kids to be who they want to be. Not who I want them to be and we encourage our kids to try new and different things.)
