Postscript to summer

I attended my last recital/ exhibition for the summer when my youngest daughter had her culminating activity for her gymnastics. She has improved so much in such a short period of time. I felt so proud when she confidently did her routine with gusto, considering she had a slight fever. I was so touched to have received a congratulatory text from my husband that said he shared Hannah’s victory. Boy, what a busy summer it had been for all of us! My eldest daughter Ella decided that she wouldn’t be enrolled in any other activity and would just continue her once-a-week flamenco classes. She decided to keep her whole summer free to relax and enjoy. So, she busied herself by learning to sew, cooking up meals, and scrapbooking. She also made herself available for all of us to enjoy her presence and help. My son Donny passionately pursued his tennis lessons on a daily basis and my youngest son, his swimming lessons. Having shuttled to and fro to try to attend the different summer programs my kids were involved in, I noticed some things that could help maximize our children’s involvement in any activity:

• Know your purpose. As parents, we must assess our ultimate goal for our children when we get them engaged in any program. Just getting them busy doing something so that we won’t have to "deal" with them is not enough. We must have a bigger goal in mind. But our goals don’t have to be so far-fetched. For example, my goal for my son Donny was for him to get into a sport he truly enjoys and gets fit with so he will not be so prone to getting asthma attacks. I also challenged him to show me his consistency in attending his tennis lessons before buying him his own racket. As a result, he got so hooked on tennis and he also got a brand-new tennis racket of his choice. Now, he wants to continue even when school starts and now sees himself competing in the future.

• Honor your child’s design. Different strokes for different folks. When my daughter was three, I enrolled her in a ballet class, thinking she would go on the same path as her sister who did ballet for five years. But after her class, she approached her teacher and said, "Sorry, teacher. I’m not for ballet but gymnastics." Let’s take our cue from our children instead of dictating on them.

• Be available. Watch them show you their stuff! Attend their classes to see how they’ve improved and be there to cheer them on. The smiles that I see on my children’s faces when they glance to see if I’m looking are priceless. They truly value our presence. There were times when the other siblings were too tired to attend another sibling’s recital, but we made it mandatory for all family members to be present by reminding them how it feels to see the whole family clap for them.

• Enjoy! Let’s not be too hard on our kids by pushing them too hard to excel in an activity. When they enjoy what they are doing, they will excel. If we give them our all-out support and guidance, they will shine. So, relax, parents and enjoy the remaining last days of summer.

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E-mail author at: mommytalk@businessworks.com.ph