One Sport and One Art

Piano lessons, Cubs, church, soccer, judo, day camps, summer camp. That was me growing up. I could tell you the extra curricular activities of any one of my friends at that time too. We never thought of ourselves as students – for the most part, the unique elements of our personalities and lives came from what we did outside the classroom. We relished the chance to pursue our interests and engage in cool activities, connecting with people and learning new skills.

A colleague told me years ago of the “rule” she has with her children. They have to participate in a sporting activity and an artistic pursuit. It was their choice, but there needed to be balance and commitment. It also creates a manageable minimum that allows for mom and dad to have their own lives too. The child sees the balance of physical and intellectual pursuits and by requiring it of them, you are showing that you value both.

We do this with The Boy too. He played soccer for a couple of summers then wanted a change. Visiting our provincial amateur sport website we scrolled through the list of clubs in our area talking about each one. Local newspapers are good sources for programming. Some activities are year-long while others have a short run.

Childhood is a great time to explore, experience a wide variety of things. We talk about the commitment part of participating, in trying your best while having fun; acknowledging that skill development is sometimes frustrating and difficult, but ultimately rewarding in a way that can not be achieved any other way but through hard work and effort.

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This entry was posted on Sunday, December 18th, 2011 at 10:55 am and is filed under Learning Ideas. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

About Daddy

I love being a father. When my son was born, I thought, “Here’s my chance to try out all those things I learned about in university about child development!” I have an Arts degree in Psychology and Religion, and an Education degree in Secondary English as well as some work in a Graduate degree in Education Technology. I spent the last 20 years working in schools as a classroom teacher, an administrator, and a technology consultant. Throughout, I learned about socialization, concept formation, behaviour management, creating activity to stimulate the intellect and imagination, and lots of other effective tricks of the education trade. If it works at school, probably works at home too. This is not to say that I am a perfect parent, nor is my child a perfect child. My measure of success is simply that we are thriving in our work, home, and study environments. Take what you want, discard what you don’t, share your experiences, and let’s talk about parenting. @milesmac

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