Little Strikers

I put Preston in swimming lessons last summer, thinking, we're moving to an island, he needs to learn how to swim. We'll literally be surrounded by water. Swimming is essential. He HAS to know how to swim. That was a good idea for all of two minutes. He hated swimming lessons. He screamed and whined and threw tantrum after tantrum until his 15 minutes were up and he was free to get out of the water. Without fail, he'd always want to get right back in, he just didn't want to be forced to do anything. His way, his pace, he's golden.

Fast forward to February, and I thought almost a year later, swimming lessons would be a good idea again. He's a little older now, surely it couldn't be as bad as last time. I was wrong. So very wrong. It was just as bad. Not worse. But just as bad.

After three lessons in February, we decided to hold off on actual lessons again for awhile. Kids eventually learn how to swim anyway, right?

I wanted him to be part of something, so, the next best thing was soccer of course. Isn't it a requirement that every little kid play soccer? Of course, the morning of his first practice (all it really is is practices right now, just to teach the kids the basic skills of soccer, actual soccer soccer doesn't start until September), he flipped out and said he didn't want to go. So, of course, I pulled up YouTube videos of the USA team playing soccer to show him just how cool soccer really is. It pumped him up...kind of. Enough to get him to his practice without throwing a fit. And more or less enough to get him to participate with the other kids better than I thought he would. In fact, for a change, he was actually participating better than most kids. It was kind of miraculous.

Of course, when the next week rolled around he said he hated soccer and didn't want to go. But, we got him there anyway and I'm pretty sure he had some fun. At least a little bit of fun. How can you not have fun when you're the best one there? Kids don't really pick up on that stuff though, do they? I'm certain he's the oldest one, but hey, he was still the best out there. It's nice to see him be part of something for a change.

Soccer may not always be his thing, but at least he has "fun" doing it, at least enough fun that we signed him up for next month, too. And that's saying something.