As a child, I was the stereotypical athletically-challenged nerd. The one picked last for teams, who dropped every ball thrown my way and “ran” a 15-minute mile. My parents encouraged me to play Little League softball when I was ten, and it was a failure of epic proportions. I’m not sure I ever got a hit.
Luckily, our daughter shows early signs of inheriting her father’s athletic gifts. She is bold and strong and energetic and throws and kicks and jumps and runs and dances with the best of them. She falls down often — she’s 2, it happens — and pops back up to hit the ground running once again. But even if she turns out a klutz like Mama, and despite my own traumatic history with team sports, I will do everything in my power to encourage her in athletics.
Why? I want our girl to know her own power. Not the “power” young, beautiful women sometimes hold in swaying the desires of men, but actual physical and mental I-can-do-it-myself power. I hope the knowledge of her strength will help her withstand bullies and not fall for any boy who pays her a little attention. I want her to have a relationship with her body separate from whatever society tells her is attractive. I want her to have the experience of practicing something until she improves, and also the experience of losing with grace.
And of course I plan to live vicariously by seeing her succeed where I have failed. And then, when she’s famous, benefit from her millions of dollars in endorsement deals. Why else does anyone force activities on their children?
Have you pre-selected any activities to push on your children?
This is great! I grew up the same way– I was completely unathletic and embarrassing episodes during PE turned me off sports forever. It wasn’t until I got older that I found ballet, yoga, pilates — activities that made me feel strong and empowered. Wish I’d figured it out sooner! I hope to introduce my future daughter to all kinds of activities from a young age and hopefully she will connect with something that makes her feel great. Elsa is lucky to have you!
Aw, Maya, love from one nerdy lawyer girl to another.
I’m definitely in favor of yoga, dance, and the rest too and include that in my definition of athletics. Anything that gets your body out there and moving! And I hope to try more of those myself, if my (*#&$#$& health problems every clear up enough to make it less painful and exhausting.
I want to be like you in theory, but I’m so lazy as the parent of a toddler. Will things really change when my kids are older? But over the course of my life I played/did:
soccer
clogged
dance team
volleyball
soccer
cross country
basketball
softball
dance team
choir
piano lessons
voice lessons
I’m not really good at any of these but… I’m a much more confident person because there are several areas where I can keep up. And because my husband grew up in a country where organized sports really didn’t exist, his un-coordination makes him feel very self-conscious. It will likely be me who teaches our kids how to dribble and kick and throw a ball. But the thought of doing all of that is exhausting!
That is a seriously impressive list! And I totally get it about knowing how to hold your own — even with, say, my disastrous Little League experience, there’s something much deeper about having the experience of actually standing out in the field looking for the ball than just going to someone else’s game and learning the rules.
But don’t worry about laziness. If P is anything like our girl, he’ll have you running after him soon enough. Better to sign them up for classes and let someone ELSE run them around while you read a book! (Most of the dance and toddler-sport classes around here start at age 3, and I am counting. the. days.)
It’s not just a girl problem. I grew up with little sports coordination and still struggle to find sports I can play well enough to keep active. However, besides encouraging our sons to play sports, we’re also encouraging them to watch sports. My family never sat down together to watch an NFL football game (for example), so I never knew any of the players, saw the great plays, or learned when to yell at the TV. That left me at a social disadvantage when talking with classmates in school, and I still notice it to this day, because someone at work or church will try to strike up a sports-related conversation, and I won’t have the necessary context to respond or contribute. It seems discussing sports is a great ice-breaker and equalizer.
- Douglas
Totally true, Douglas. Luckily if there is a silver lining to my husband’s endless parade of baseball, basketball, and hockey games on TV (not so much with the football, unless of course it’s ME putting on Wisconsin games!) it’s that she won’t hurt for sports viewership. I really, really hope she takes a liking to at least one of the sports, because I love the thought of daddy and daughter sharing the experience of watching games together. As with most of these things, we’ll see!