Without Regret

Today, Inwe said goodbye to her gymnastics teachers. She is through with the weekly lessons.

It is difficult as a parent (well, for me) to watch as your child makes a decision like this at the very young age of five. There is a lot of second guessing going on in my head. Am I allowing her to quit too early? Have I been supportive enough? Am I letting her make the best decision or will she hate me later when she wants to be a cheerleader but cannot because she inherited her father's inflexibility along with his brain?

Clearly, she inherited self-awareness from me. When I was a junior I quit playing varsity basketball at the end of the season because I wasn't getting better and I felt that I didn't have anything but stellar grades to give to the team. That decision was incredibly difficult. I didn't tell my father for weeks. Perhaps it was my experience with that which allowed me to open up to Inwe's suppressed frustration surrounding gymnastics.

She's asked to take tennis lessons this summer, and I'm going to let her. The gym, which is really a country club sans golf course, has weekly lessons just for little ones her age. I hope she enjoys it. I'm sure she'll tell me if she doesn't.