I come from a family of jocks. We covered a range sports in my family- soccer, football, basketball, softball, tennis and lacrosse.  And when I say “we,” I really mean my father, sister and brother- Mom and I were very happy cheering on the sidelines without breaking a sweat.  But even though I wasn’t an athlete, I was definitely more of tomboy growing up.  I spent my summers climbing trees, riding bikes and swimming.

When I changed schools in 3rd grade, I was mystified by these girlie girls in my new class. All the girls were in Girl Scout, piano lessons and danced- things I knew nothing about.  So I did what any self-respecting, scared 3rd grader did when presented with things I didn’t understand and wasn’t included in- I acted like I was way too cool for them anyhow. While I made friends with these girls, I never got sucked into things like dance and cheerleading- they simple just weren’t for me.

But now I have kids and all of a sudden what wasn’t for me may be for for my kids.

For example, Scorch brought home paperwork from the school last week asking me if he wants to start taking violin lessons.  I was worse at music then I was at sports- in fact, I was asked to leave the 5th grade orchestra because I was so bad.  The Hubs isn’t any more musically inclined then I am, so our first inclination was to throw the paperwork out and be done with it.  But…what if Scorch really does want to play?  What if he actually does have some talent?  What if by exposing home to music now, we change the course of his life? The problem is, Scorch is 5- he has no idea what he wants to do. Do we commit him to a semesters worth of lessons (that aren’t cheap) just to ensure we’re not holding him back or do we go with our gut and say “Not right now”?

Beaner turns 3 this year, which means she can start dance lessons in the fall.  Most of the Bean’s friends take dance and I get asked a few times a month when we’re going to sign her up.  My first response is to laugh and say never because I sat thru years of dance recitals supporting my friend and hated every single minute of them.  I don’t want to doom myself to more years of that.  But again, this isn’t about me- this is about my daughter who, at age 3, has no idea what she wants.

Honestly, my first inclination for all these lessons, whether they be music or dance, is to wait a few years until my kids can speak for themselves with a bit more authority and stick to the things we as a family all love, like soccer and t-ball.  That is most likely what we’ll do, but I know the time is coming when I’m going to have to step out of my comfort zone and let my kids try something that makes me cringe inside.