Interests

Lately at work I find myself talking to the students about finding an extracurricular activity so they do not have to focus all their time and energy WORRYING. I heard a speaker from Planned Parenthood state that individuals who have a passion in life have a better body image. I have been thinking about this lately. It is true as people we feel much better about ourselves when we have something to focus such as sports, music, helping others or the arts. It is a known fact that students who are involved in sports are less likely to engage in risky behaviors or drugs plus, they have better grades. Most of the students I work with often do not have any outside involvement. They spend their free time (and they have lots of it) social networking, hanging with friends, watching TV or just spending endless amount of time listening to music and drowning in their own sorrows.

As a parent, I have modeled for my children the importance of having outside interests. I have the book club, Pilates, walking, and my career. Drew has his band and sports. I have encouraged my children to get involved with as many things as possible. The downside is that my personal interests and passions have to suffer as a result. Alex has tried baseball, swimming, soccer, basketball and cub scouts. His passion seems to be for the Cub Scouts. He has spent the last academic year, almost every Thursday, attending his den meetings. He has put in extra time completing the requirements in the Wolf Handbook and getting involved with the weekend activities. This past week, Alex has moved up and now is a Bear Cub. We attended the ceremony, I was happy to see that Alex was beaming with pride.

Sophia has been only involved with dance. She has not been old enough to try the local sports but she has participated in the local dance school for the past two years. This has been a huge commitment, time and financial, for her and us. All this time and money has been well spent when you see the pride and excitement in her when she has the recital at IC. I enjoy watching the older dancers and I am in awe of the way they carry themselves on and off stage. I hope Sophia will find that type of pride with the dance or some other passion that she discovers.