Supporting their interests

Hey folks, long time no speak! I've had a busy couple of weeks with school, the kids & the Jumper biz...well its been more like the cotton candy biz since mother nature has kept my customers from utilizing my jumpers! Damn rainy weather is bad for business! Eh well, things are looking bright for the spring & summer with people booking months in advance now.

So lets go. When I was a kid, I was into so many things. I loved to play basketball, I loved to draw, I loved to dance, act, sing, rap, tell jokes, play drums, piano so on & so forth. I am pretty sure that's why my mom never really pushed me in 1 particular area. She just accepted that I liked to do a lot of things. She went to all of my plays & talent shows. She signed me up for football & basketball, she even bought me an art table & casio keyboard. She was very supportive but never pushy. I want to be supportive as well & think I tend to push too much. My kids are only 6 & 7 right now. When I was 6 & 7 I didn't really do anything except maybe play toys & watch cartoons so it's hard for me to use myself as the measuring stick. I didn't really get into anything until I was 11. My sons are both already showing signs of excelling at things. They are both blue belts in taekwondo & will hopefully be black belts in the next 2 years. Do the math...go ahead, I'll wait. Yes they will be 8 & 9 by the time they are black belts. That's exciting to me. So I am very supportive but trying not to be pushy.

Now they want to do other things. I did a similar blog where I said I didn't want to be the Joe Jackson type, but thinking about things now, how do you not push your kids to want to be the best at something they love doing? My oldest Daevon loves to draw, sing & dance. Just like I did. He is getting better & better at drawing & even created my company logo which has gotten a lot of praise. His teachers even gush over his art work saying it's very imaginative. He has been hinting that he wants to sing too. He wants lessons but is too embarrassed to ask. I told him that if he wants to do it that I'd get him singing & piano lessons & later dance lessons. But he thinks all that is for girls. Eh well maybe when he's a little older. The boy is also very intelligent. He loves to read & write & has a fascination with dinosaurs. He can name almost every type of dinosaur & has said since he was 4 that he wants to be a paleontologist. ZUH?? All I can do is put him in position to succeed, what ever he loves to do, I want to be able to get him started & see how he excels on his own.

Isaiah is the youngest & the more physical one. The kid is freakishly strong & physically gifted. He is stronger & faster than his big brother. He is better at sports & way more aggressive in Taekwondo. Daevon memorizes the moves faster, but once Isaiah gets it, it's easier for him to kick harder & higher & faster than it is for Daevon. He wants to learn how to play basketball, which of course gets me excited since that is my favorite sport. He's also said he wants to learn boxing. I am going to bring him to a boxing gym this weekend so he can make his final decision & this summer I'll let them give basketball a try. Isaiah is also a fan of math. He hates to read, but math is easy for him. he just turned 6 & is only half way finished with his kindergarten year & he is already doing multiplication problems...for fun! He even wants to go back to teh Kumon learning center this Summer so he can learn higher grade math!

That's exciting. That both of my kids actually like to learn. They both like to get the correct answer. They are both competitive that way. They actually get upset when they are wrong & work to not be wrong again. So I know they will love to play sports & do other more competitive things. The hard part as I said is not getting them in over their little heads. As a dad its hard not to push your kids to do what we want them to do. If Daevon decides not to follow in my footsteps & pursue his artistic side & prefers the life of dinosaurs & fossils I'll support him. If Isaiah prefers numbers crunching as an account over being an MMA fighter or basketball player then I'll support them. What ever they wanna do, I just want them to want to be the best. That happens, I'm happy!

Until next time,

DJ