Exercise, Team Sports, & Lessons

 

The tiny Darling Daughter in her ONE & ONLY ballet recital!

• Horseback riding (Obvious one right?)
• Tae Kwon Do
• Ballet (a summer class) 
• Skating
• Hockey
• Swimming

  There is our list of Darling Daughter's attempted sports.  Horseback riding was the obvious one.  How great!  A daughter, born to a riding instructor, living on a 30 acre farm, ponies at her fingertips anytime, free lessons! To most little girls it sounds like a dream come true....  As a young mom and riding instructor, I CERTAINLY thought that Darling Daughter would eventually go to the Olympics, since I didn't get to go... 
 
 Her riding with me brought out the very worst of my parenting and coaching skills.  I did not speak to her the way I spoke to other children at my farm, I was MEAN.  I did not accept her being tired, although I completely understood when my four year old riders were sleepy.  I was terrible. I admit to all of this.  I'm a great riding instructor that had NO BUSINESS teaching my own child!  But the ultimate moment, was when I looked up at Darling Daughter and her eyes were swollen shut.  She looked like Kermit the Frog with his eyes closed, except she was pink.

  Time to go to the allergist...  Darling Daughter was allergic to Hay, Cats, Horses, Dust.

WAIT!!!  EVERYTHING AT THE BARN?!?!?!?!?

Soon we had the brilliant idea of giving her Benadryl before she rode.  (Red Food Dye40 AND it makes her CRAZY) That was a disaster and soon, Darling Daughter's riding career was over.  She was a beautiful rider but, she didn't love it.  I felt great that my daughter looked so lovely on top of a pony, but in the end, it was not her calling.  ***If you're wondering if it makes me sad???  Not at all!  Now, the barn is MY area and it is also my work.  I can separate my family from my work and from my sanctuary and that is very important to be able to do.



Soon, she wanted to do Tae Kwon Do and we signed her up for a WHOLE YEAR of lessons!!!  Grab that Gi and away we go!!!  Soon, Darling Daughter was the tallest of all the little children in her class, she was NOT sitting quietly in that meditation position.  One day I saw her LICK the hand pole! (GROSS!!!) Another day I saw her drawing with her fingernails in the mat.




  It was around this time I had started figuring out that Darling Daughter was dyslexic so imagine, how GREAT it  was when she learned her moves facing a mirror!!??  NOT!!  Soon, maybe 2 months in, our money had been wasted and after a rather fabulous Mulan / Tae Kwon Do birthday party....  She quit.



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Winter came and with winter came ice skating.  Darling Daughter wanted to learn how to figure skate.  She even did a little exhibition!  We went through a few instructors, each bringing a lot of great things to Darling Daughter's lessons and two years later she decided, she wanted to play hockey...

GREAT!!!  She's supposed to be over 6' tall, so let's get her into a sport she can excel at, and maybe she'll do really great.  She went to camps, we bought the equipment and then one day...  DONE, crying, she told us, "I'm not happy, I'm good enough to go skate with my friends and the only thing I really want to do is swim."

We had kept her swimming for some time, she goes out on the boat, she loves to fish.  But more importantly, I married a surfer.  Neither of us played team sports, neither of us were running champions, I rode horses, and Hubby rode waves.  Neither are team sports (although we both competed on teams within the sports). The bottom line is, we have to allow our children all the opportunities to explore a bunch of different sports BUT NOT ALL AT ONCE!

  As a coach, I can not tell you how many riders come to me exhausted because parents (exhausted as well) have them going from one practice to another, to tutoring to this to that.  I UNDERSTAND!  I know there are only so many days in the week and so many hours in the day.  Simply ask yourself, who am I doing this for and why?  If I worked some of my horses as hard, as some of the parents that bring their children to my farm, if I kept them from their friends, fed them only in the trailer to and from lessons, I would soon have a lame, sour horse.  If your child isn't excelling at one sport maybe it is because you are trying to many sports at one time?  I am not being judgmental.  Darling Daughter must make a commitment to a sport and then stick with it for a designated amount of time before we start

 Exercise is REALLY important for the ADHD brain.  It is good for everyone!  In Darling Daughter it helps set her entire body into a rhythm.  It also burns lots of excess energy and she loves it.  Adult friends with ADHD tell me that they need 50 minutes of aerobic exercise every morning and then they can focus for the day.

I have also been advised about the great benefits of music and dyslexia.  Darling Daughter has not partaken in music lessons, but as I get information from a dear former rider friend, I will pass it all along to you regarding Music and its great benefits.

Until I get to stop and write again.  Allow your child to be who they will be.  I was once told my only job is to make Darling Daughter a nice person, a good person... Reading and Writing will come along.  And please, take a moment and enjoy life for a second!