Paige and Benedict

Listening

Thu May 29 15:11:42 EDT 2008 (claire)

I was just reading an article in my Real Simple Magazine that I swear was written exclusively for me. As much as I try, I am not a good listener. At times, I think I do a half decent job at appearing to be a good listener, and I think I'm listening, and I want to listen, but my brain has too many other things going on for me to always listen -- especially to my kids...

Paige is a CONSTANT talker, and it's impossible and exhausting to always listen to what she is saying -- I would never get anything else done, but I am trying to at least listen to the big things. At 5 years old, there doesn't seem to be too many big things, but I did catch one in the car the other day.

I want Paige to play soccer in the fall, not ballet. I think she would benefit from playing a true team sport. There is nothing wrong with ballet, but she has done it for two years already and I'd like her to try something new. Also, I have a slight fear of potential self esteem problems, knowing that her adult build will not be tiny and dainty.

I pretty much figured I could convince her over the summer to take a break from ballet and do soccer. That's my job, to convince her to do what I know is best for her, right? Well, luckily I stopped to listen to her talking to her friends in the car about next year in ballet. She went on about how excited she is to be in a longer class, to practice what she sees the "big girls" doing and on and on about ballet. Never once have I heard her mention soccer to her friends who are also playing in the fall.

As much as I am unsure about ballet, I figured I needed to pay attention to her now at 5, not wait until she yells at me at 15 that I never listen to her. So, I looked over the fall schedule and signed her up for her next ballet class....and soccer.