It was her first day of t-ball. She doesn’t love t-ball. I haven’t figured out if it’s because she actually doesn’t like it or if it’s just new. She told me she didn’t want to go to her game, that she didn’t want to do t-ball.
I have no idea how to handle these situations as a parent.
So I took the transparently honest route. I told her that as her mom I wasn’t sure what to do in this situation. Because I didn’t want to make her do something she didn’t like. I wanted her to find the things she does like and do those. But I also wasn’t sure if we had given t-ball enough of a chance to see if we liked it. And I also knew that her team was counting on her.
She went. She did great. Was she passionately excited about it? No. T-ball might not be her thing. And that’s ok.
I think it’s important to learn to say no to the things that aren’t your thing. In finding our “thing” in life, we will inevitably try things that don’t work out. And we have to be able to let go of those in order to go on to find the right thing.
She will finish out the season of course. There’s no shame in walking away from something that isn’t your thing, but how you walk away matters.
Sometimes we can learn as much from the not finding as we would have from finding.
I love how you share the doubts you may have with your daughter. Quite inspiring post 🙂
Thank you! 🙂 I like the idea of modeling a thinking process for her as well as actions. I think it’s good for kids to know that grown ups don’t always know all the answers. It helps them see it’s ok to not know sometimes.