My Triple Threat....
As I sat watching my beautiful JP recently during one of his brilliant performances, I got a little sad. Not sad because of my mom, not sad because he was growing up, but sad because he is 14 years old and I was JUST REALIZING who he is and HOW MUCH TALENT HE HAS.
In the ARTS, I guess he is called a "TRIPLE THREAT". The boy can play three instruments that I know of and he is only trained in one. He can Act like you would not believe. When he is on that stage he transforms into whatever character he is and it is so fun to watch. He can sing, Oh my lord the boy has some pipes, and now I realize he can dance....and what a beautiful site to behold when he is dancing.
My first point is, doesn't that make him a quadruple threat? We are talking about a instrument, acting, singing and dancing....my calculations say that is a quadruple effect... Just sayin......but my real point here is I am so sad that it took me so long to figure this out. I will tell yall, people quite often would say to me when he was young, "JP is meant for the stage!" I would smile and say, "He is quite the character." But yall! He IS meant for the stage! Why didn't I listen?
I will tell you why. This is an honest heart felt confession.
Because I had an image of what being a boymom was and it did not include the stage. It included soccer fields, football fields, basketball courts, baseball fields (even though I despise baseball), golf clubs, track, and the list goes on and on, but you get the point. It did not include an instrument. It did not include a stage and costumes or god forbid make up, and it really did not include tights. Why? Because I selfishly had an image of what I THOUGHT A BOY SHOULD BE OR DO.
It is kind of odd really, being that I grew up acting with plenty of boys and even dated them.
As I sat there watching him move gracefully across the stage, I thought to myself, "Did I hold him back? Where would he be today had I listened?" I don't know and no one does. What I do know is I could have had a professional coach on JP at the age of two for any sport and it would not have made a hill of beans. JP did not like or want to play sports. He did not have the mind or desire to learn a game. His mind loves the stage. His heart loves the stage. Not some field or court.
Why do I share this with you? I share this story with you simply because I don't want people to make the same mistake I did. I don't want to see others put their "idea" or "image" of what a particular kid should do on them. I promise you it will not work. And in this broken world it will only add yet another layer of stress to our poor kiddos. Trust me JP told me it was awful when I kept signing him up for football and not listening to him.
I consider myself one of the lucky ones. JP was secure enough in who he is to basically push back and FINALLY get to his love. Some kids are not that confidant. I don't think I was at that age. So in this day and age, when our kids are already stressed out and trying to fit in, lets all work harder on not pigeon holing our kids into what WE THINK IS RIGHT OR BEST for them. Instead let's empower them to be who they are and to do it to the BEST OF THEIR ABILITY and TO SHINE!
xo,
Amy
