Lex has recently expressed interest in sports. Hockey, in particular. Several of his classmates play on a team and they brought a trophy in for show and tell. Lex was duly impressed. He described the entire thing to me, every little detail, after school that day.

This week he brought home a hockey book from school and we’ve decided that we, as a family, will learn how to skate this winter. I may take him to a Dartmouth game or maybe take him to watch his classmates play.

It’s an interesting situation though. I think he’s at the age where he is naturally starting to develop an interest in this kind of thing. I know another mother with kids the same age who is facing the same situation. The problem is, so many of his classmates have been playing since they were four! Or even younger, in some sports! Soccer starts for 2yr olds around here. Seriously?! So when the child is seven and starting to develop their own ideas and interests, they are already too old. Geesh!

Lex says he really wants to play on the hockey team with his classmates, but that won’t happen any time soon. I told him we could learn about hockey (rules, etc.) and learn to skate, then we’ll take it from there. He’ll probably lose interest anyway.

Parenting is so interesting and ever evolving. You don’t want to (well, I don’t want to!) force them into over-scheduled lives just so they don’t miss out on things, but at the same time it’s sad when they express interest in something all of their over-scheduled friends are doing and they can’t do because they weren’t born on skates. One of Eve’s classmates, a tiny little 5yr old girl, will be joining a hockey team this fall. Her mom asked if Eve wanted to join too. I told her we’re working on learning to skate this year and I’ll get back to her next year. :)