My daughter is almost 4 years old. She's getting more independent every day.
She carries on conversations with herself, bursts into song at the most opportune, and sometimes inconvenient, times, and sits Indian style in a corner when she doesn't get her way. Hey, that's better than a tantrum.
This summer, my wife and I are starting to figure out what Kalena should do with her free time. She will be done with preschool soon. Summer is sure to include much of playing on her playground, going to dad's baseball games and spending time at mom's dance studio.
When she turns 4 in August, Kalena will have a wealth of options for that free time. Mom's inclination is to enroll her in dance-related activities. She's already taken dance for two years. Included on mom's short list are dance, gymnastics and piano lessons.
Dance is a given. When your mom owns a dance studio, it is like a second home.
We were sure Kalena was going to turn into a dance rat, spending all her free time at the studio, but near the end of this last dance year, Kalena shared something with us. She said she didn't want to take any kind of dance except hip-hop. Her babysitter is one of Shawnee's dancers, and a solo hip-hop number she did at the recital inspired Kalena to want to do it too.
That's fine. More modern dance, but less time at the studio.
Gymnastics is fine, too. I covered gymnastics for years in a previous job, and a good friend of mine in college was one injury removed from making a run at the Olympics.
It's a tough sport that not only hones the muscles, but sharpens concentration and team building.
Piano lessons, I don't quite get. It's not that I have anything against learning the piano. I always wanted an electronic keyboard as a kid, and never got one. So, a few years ago, I treated myself to a nice one, just so I could learn how to play it. That lesson continues.
Kalena doesn't seem to have the patience to sit in front of a piano and learn. She has unbridled energy like me, and it's better to put that to use doing some of the things I could see her doing, namely, sports.
Soccer is Kalena's first love. She has three soccer balls in the house already and plays with them inside and out, nearly every day. She loves dribbling away from dad, and as soon as I get close, she falls on the ball like a goalie making a game-winning save in the World Cup.
Last weekend for the first time, I got out a T-ball set we had purchased for Kalena. She already knew how to swing a bat, kind of, but getting the plane of the swing right to hit a ball the size of a grapefruit was a challenge.
Not so for the ball on the tee. She swung like dad taught her and hit the ball a good 10 to 15 feet. She'll be ready in no time for the real thing next summer. I can already see that college softball scholarship taking shape.
Our daughter will have many options available to her for year-round recreation, but there is one activity that will be paramount - unstructured free time.
Too often I walk into Shawnee's dance studio and overhear parents telling their daughters that they have to leave to take another child to trumpet lessons. Some moms argue with their husbands to do some housework while they're carting kids around town.
I've even heard some kids complain that they don't have time to play at home, do homework or just be a kid.
What's the fun of being 4 if you can't act like it? That's the most important thing to us when it comes to Kalena.
Some of the best time spent with kids is time doing nothing at all.
- Jim Winter is news editor of The Monroe Times. He can be reached at newseditor@themonroetimes.com.
She carries on conversations with herself, bursts into song at the most opportune, and sometimes inconvenient, times, and sits Indian style in a corner when she doesn't get her way. Hey, that's better than a tantrum.
This summer, my wife and I are starting to figure out what Kalena should do with her free time. She will be done with preschool soon. Summer is sure to include much of playing on her playground, going to dad's baseball games and spending time at mom's dance studio.
When she turns 4 in August, Kalena will have a wealth of options for that free time. Mom's inclination is to enroll her in dance-related activities. She's already taken dance for two years. Included on mom's short list are dance, gymnastics and piano lessons.
Dance is a given. When your mom owns a dance studio, it is like a second home.
We were sure Kalena was going to turn into a dance rat, spending all her free time at the studio, but near the end of this last dance year, Kalena shared something with us. She said she didn't want to take any kind of dance except hip-hop. Her babysitter is one of Shawnee's dancers, and a solo hip-hop number she did at the recital inspired Kalena to want to do it too.
That's fine. More modern dance, but less time at the studio.
Gymnastics is fine, too. I covered gymnastics for years in a previous job, and a good friend of mine in college was one injury removed from making a run at the Olympics.
It's a tough sport that not only hones the muscles, but sharpens concentration and team building.
Piano lessons, I don't quite get. It's not that I have anything against learning the piano. I always wanted an electronic keyboard as a kid, and never got one. So, a few years ago, I treated myself to a nice one, just so I could learn how to play it. That lesson continues.
Kalena doesn't seem to have the patience to sit in front of a piano and learn. She has unbridled energy like me, and it's better to put that to use doing some of the things I could see her doing, namely, sports.
Soccer is Kalena's first love. She has three soccer balls in the house already and plays with them inside and out, nearly every day. She loves dribbling away from dad, and as soon as I get close, she falls on the ball like a goalie making a game-winning save in the World Cup.
Last weekend for the first time, I got out a T-ball set we had purchased for Kalena. She already knew how to swing a bat, kind of, but getting the plane of the swing right to hit a ball the size of a grapefruit was a challenge.
Not so for the ball on the tee. She swung like dad taught her and hit the ball a good 10 to 15 feet. She'll be ready in no time for the real thing next summer. I can already see that college softball scholarship taking shape.
Our daughter will have many options available to her for year-round recreation, but there is one activity that will be paramount - unstructured free time.
Too often I walk into Shawnee's dance studio and overhear parents telling their daughters that they have to leave to take another child to trumpet lessons. Some moms argue with their husbands to do some housework while they're carting kids around town.
I've even heard some kids complain that they don't have time to play at home, do homework or just be a kid.
What's the fun of being 4 if you can't act like it? That's the most important thing to us when it comes to Kalena.
Some of the best time spent with kids is time doing nothing at all.
- Jim Winter is news editor of The Monroe Times. He can be reached at newseditor@themonroetimes.com.
