Do not worry about it too much. Eventually, children will receive a sense of fit within particular activities, and they would probably pursue them on their own. I assure you. This seems to me a natural consequence of maturing, which can only be influenced, but not forced. Parents can only offer opportunities of exploration. Forcing a narrow spectrum of activities is restrictive and may be saying more about your wishes as a parent, rather than being loyal to your child’s needs. Does this mean that we have to enrol our children to all the nurseries that they request. Not quite. That would be rather expensive. Play does not need to be formal. Nurseries, sports academies, music tuition, etc are all formal institutions. One need only provide a ball and the space to play. There is equal availabilities of toy music instruments.
This societal notion that we are one thing bothers me. I feel that it fails to grasp the beauty of the complexity in life. It is a major struggle in my life to be seen as someone who knows only about children or parenting. As a person I have much more to offer. And so does everyone else. In my opinion this is the downside of specialisations. Some will probably say that it’s nice to be a master of something, rather than being the jack of all trades. What I reply is that one can be master of more than one thing, and also the jack of others. The human capacity is broad and it is only limited by our own boundaries. Allow your children to explore safely. Remove stress from all aspects of life which can exist without stress. Do not pursue perfection. Enjoyment of activities is a much more fruitful prospect in life.
Steve Libreri is a social worker and parent coach within Willingness. He offers parent coaching and social work sessions. He can be contacted on steve@willingness.com.mt.