It’s a wonderful thing to have options.

Or perhaps not!

Options can make things complicated. In a land of plenty, we are given choices. But what if the pressure of those choices leads us to over complicate things, or worse — choose to not choose, and therefore do nothing.

Then there is the all too easy option of quitting.

Enrolling your little ones in activities is daunting.

Gymnastics, karate, ballet, soccer, tennis, t-ball, piano, science or chess club?

Which one, which one? Do our children get a say? Do they get to quit if they decide later they are bored with it?

We’ve been testing out different activities. Trying to find the one activity that we can afford, the kids seem to have a natural talent for, and most importantly, they enjoy!

The trouble is that they may not even know they enjoy it, until after they’ve been in it a while. I mean really — who enjoys falling on their butt repeatedly in the early days of ice skating classes? Do we allow our children to quit riding lessons after they’ve fallen off, or do we demand that they get back up there on the horse?

I believe that a quitter mentality is learned early on.

As parents it’s part of our job to not only work hard to find an activity they can be successful in to help them create a healthy identity into adulthood, but also to encourage them to stick with. After all no one likes a quitter and I’m not aiming to raise one.

Watch my daughter’s FIRST riding lesson here.