In the fall David went to a basketball clinic Sunday mornings. He had recently fallen in love with basketball was very excited about the clinic. I was too. I thought it would be good exercise for him in general and specifically could help improve coordination, etc. I also think it's important for kids to be decent at sports for various reasons. And it was just cute to watch him warm up, run suicides, practice layups and play games. I think he was getting a lot out of it and he was having a lot of fun.
Until the middle of the season. He started expressing less and less interest and finally he decided he no longer wanted to go. On the one hand I don't think parents should force kids to participate in extracurricular activities. Let kids figure out what they like to do and enjoy themselves as they develop a particular skill or talent. On the other hand David asked us to sign him up and we had already paid for the season. We felt that he should understand what it means to make a commitment to do something and at that very he least he should finish up the season. Then he could decide if wanted to continue.
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One interesting thing I noticed while watching the practice games is that the coach didn't generally call travelling and double dribble violations. It was a good reminder for me that sometimes kids need a bit of leeway. One can't expect them to do everything perfectly from day one. Eventually they'll get it. Hopefully.
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