would you be disappointed if your child decided that they didn't want to play a sport?

I wouldn't be disappointed at all. If you don't like something, you don't like it. You shouldn't have to suffer in something just because you paid to participate or worked hard to get on the team. I'm not going to waste my time and theirs driving them back and forth to practices and games, when the whole time they are dreading it because they hate the sport.

I don't believe it's teaching kids that it's okay to quit. There's a difference between giving up because something is hard and quitting because you don't like something. I wanted to get a degree in criminal justice but halfway through decided that's not what I wanted. I'm not a quitter just because I decided to do something else with my time.

That being said, I would make them stick with it for at least another week or two before letting them quit. You never know when they're going to change their mind back and decide they like it.

A "designer baby" is actually an artificial baby which has had deformities removed or advantages added. and it's an expensive and illegal procedure. What your talking about is choosing the sex of the child which is simply giving an extra X in the case of a girl or a Y in the case of a male to the zygote before putting it back in the mother and is legal in most countries. Choosing sex is a pointless ask in my opinion as the trauma to the child in knowing it is unnatural would be enormous and it is more likely to rebel as a result. If a marriage is giving more girls then as long as your happy then it doesn't matter. If your not happy then find another partner with consent and care for your existing children all the same. You can't be angry at nature because it works. It's like cheating and still wanting the gold medal

Not at all. I only ask that if they ask to play they commit to the 8 weeks. One of my kids loves it and the other - I always ask her and it's often no. I do make them stay in, I think if you're going to sign up for a sport it's reasonable to expect a committment. Plenty of people are counting on you so you don't have to play but if you say you're going to play --- be there. Except once I broke that rule. Last year we had one of "those" coaches. He was only about winning, all the kids were a nervous wreck and he would roll his eyes exaggeratedly every time one of the non-superstars made a mistake. It was disgusting.

My son doesn't like baseball because there's not a lot of playing time, and he doesn't like the pressure. Soccer he really enjoys. He's very middle to low end of a player, but he likes the game, he's getting better and there's a lot of playing time with soccer.

So while everyone might've assumed my earlier post was because I wanted to pave the way for my own little superstar, you should know he's about as far away from that as you can get. I just don't think... well sometimes I just think that we're sheltering our kids too much and we're doing them more harm than good.

We have four grown children. When they were young we never forced them to play sports or get involved in any extra activities. If they showed an interest, we definitely would have encourage it. We were more concerned about there education. Our kids never showed any interest in sports. They were to focused on school and working. I think that parents should encourage any interest their child has. I do think the parents and child have to go over all the facts and discuss the commitment on both your parts. A lot of extra curricular activities cost money. In this economy many parents simply cannot afford to pay the cost a the extra curricular extra activities, then have the child drop out because they lose interest and decide they want to do something else.

I believe that as long as a child is exposed to different things. They have a higher chance to develop a passion. It doesn't matter if it's a sport or metal working. As long as they have an interest besides just hanging out playing Video games. They will be ok. I also believe that throwing or kicking a ball around in the backyard is important. These are learned skills. Throwing is not a natural motion. Kids have to have the basics just in case they change course later in life. I also believe they need some sort of physical activity. Whether that's running, rock climbing, martial arts, doesn't matter. Everyone needs to keep somewhat active in their lives.

We don't expect our kids to participate in a sport every season of the school year. We do require them to pick one activity per yer and stick with it until that season is over. Whether it be youth group, academic club, sport, drama, art or music related.

It's important for kids to be involved in an activity other than class/studies. We will support these kids in whatever they decide, but no pressure on them to pick a specific club/sport/activity.

I would have my child finish out the season- because I don't believe in quitting something in the middle- you see it to the end. If she didn't want to pick it up again- that's fine, we can try something else. Sports aren't for everybody, but there are plenty of other activities she can be involved in that will teach her a lot of the same social skills. I would never sign her up for something she didn't want to be involved in in the first place.

I let my children try things they are interested in and encourage them to try new things. However, I never force them to participate in activities they don't enjoy. I would make them finish a season though, but not start a new season. My oldest is not interested in athletics, but he finds plenty of other things to keep him busy. My next child loves sports and he wants to try all of them. I did not like sports growing up and I would have been miserable if my mom would have forced me to participate in them.

Nope I wouldn't be disappointed at all.

I would encourage them to follow all kinds of interests and if sports don't interest them they don't have to play them. There's nothing wrong with theater, music, auto shop, or dance classes along with a wide variety of other fun activities either.

I was into color guard, art and music and my husband was into auto body and mechanics.

I would be slightly disappointed only because I enjoy watching them play and I think sports are a good way to stay active.

My youngest son only plays baseball. He tried flag football when he was 5 but he didn't like it and he had a hard time understanding all the plays and things. He went to about 4 practices and then would start crying when it was time to go because he was not liking it. I told him he didn't have to play and pulled him out. He was much happier after that.

I think when children are very young like age 5, they don't know enough to know whether they might like a sport or not. I think it's fine for parents to make the decision to sign the child up for a sport to try. If the child is enjoying it great, if not I wouldn't make them continue with it or else they might be afraid to try new things in the future for fear they will then be forced to continue it if they don't like it. My kids have never been afraid to try a new sport because they know that I won't force them to stick with it if they aren't enjoying it. The purpose of signing up is to have fun and stay active and learn something, if they aren't doing any of that then I don't see the benefit in forcing them to play.

Now if they had already played the sport in the past and decided to play again another season by their choice knowing all about the sport, then I might make them stick with it through the season even if half way through they just didn't feel like playing anymore. I think that is different than trying a new sport and discovering you don't like it.

Just like with an instrument. My son took piano for 4 years and then got tired of it. Lots of people told me I had to make him continue to teach him that he can't be a quiter and he has to stick it out once he commits. That's ridiculous, he stuck with it for 4 years, so what if he doesn't want to do it anymore. I didn't see the point in forcing him to sit at the piano and practice and pay the money for the lessons he was not even enjoying. Now he plays the saxophone in the school band. He just moved onto something else he was interested in, that doesn't make him a quiter.

EDIT: Last year there was a boy on my son's baseball team (9 yr old) who did not want to play. I felt sobad for this kid. His dad would show up with him and the kid would refuse to get out of the car. He would sit in the car crying until his dad finally forced him to get out. Then he would be on the field pouting and not paying attention while his dad sat on the side yelling at him "Timmy, stand up!" "Timmy, pay attention, it's coming to you" "Timmy, be ready", Timmy get your glove on!"

sorry but to me that is ridiculous. I am surprised at how many people believe you should force a kid to play a sport they aren't enjoying. The only lesson I see in that is "you should do things you don't want to do just to please other people".