Benny From Daddy Poppins Is Today’s Guest Post 

Today’s guest post is from Benny who blogs at Daddy Poppins. He is without question one of the funniest writers in the blogging world. He also writes such wonderful posts about his children. Do check out his blog, you won’t be disappointed.

Thank you to Benny for guest posting today.

Dancing For Sport 

So, my little man is now 7.

Growing up I was into sport; Soccer for breakfast, Rugby for lunch and Hurling and Gaelic football for tea (they’re the Irish national sports for those not in the know). I used to have a go at athletics and basketball too. If it involved a team, running or had a ball then count me in. I was a very easy child to mind in that respect; give me a ball and a piece of grass/side of a house and I’d be off. Just call me for tea and again for bedtime. Although it did mean being driven here and there for practice and matches (There were no lie ins at the weekend for my folks).

I always expected my children to be the same, its genetics isn’t it. Or so I thought. Our first child was born in 2010 and we were having a boy, I was delighted. Someone to bring to the soccer and share interests with I thought. This is going to be brilliant. I’d gone to various Hurling and Gaelic football matches with my dad growing up and it was a real bonding exercise. It would have want to have been!! As we lived in Wicklow. Not the greatest county to have to follow if success was what you were after but we bonded through the pain of watching our crappy team.

So, by aged 4 my little man showed no interest in team sports and I didn’t push it. There is nothing worse than parents living their life through their kids, I thought. I didn’t want to be the ‘dance mom’ of the soccer club. We had 2 little dogs that were yappy and snappy once a ball came out so there was no real chance to develop an interest around the house either.

Then at aged 5ish, soon after he started school, he decided he wanted to go to the local soccer club and inside I thought ‘this is it’, he gave it a real go, well some nights he did, other nights he’d be playing some other imaginary game in the corner of the pitch with some other disinterested kid. It became obvious that soccer wasn’t for him. He had no interest.

What he did take a shine to around the same time was dancing. He was bouncing and pirouetting around the house, like a little Billy Elliot. So, we asked if he liked to try dancing instead. He hasn’t looked back. Dancing has become Theatre over time. He loves it. It’s his release, he shines when he’s doing it and beams after it.

As a Dad I always wanted to have something to bond with my son over, just as my father did with me through sport. But I never thought it would be theatre!! Last night I went to a show he was in ‘Beauty and the Beast’ in the Theatre Royal in Waterford. He was involved as part of a ‘tots’ group and was on stage as a wolf and to do a small dance in a group. They were the youngest involved and were there for the cuteness factor rather than a major part of the show but it was so important to him and everyone made them feel like the stars.

When he came out afterwards he was smiling from ear to ear. “Did you see me Dad??”, he squealed excitedly as he leapt up and down like Tigger from Winnie the Pooh. “Yes, I did” I replied, “I even took a sneaky video”, I said with a wink (*until the usher told me to stop, that is). “Great!! We can show Mammy!!”, he bellowed.

On the way home we stopped into McDonalds for a treat of a milkshake and I can say hand on heart it was the best bonding time I’ve spent with my son in ages. We had a full conversation, a real one, not a ‘how was school? fine’ type conversation.

So what am I trying to say? Mmmm, just don’t force stuff on your kids because you like it. Find out what they like and roll with it. It makes them so much happier. That pre-kid visualisation you had of how parenthood would be has probably changed in so many ways since their arrival, why not let it change for their pastimes too? A kid doing what they love is happier healthier and much more involved in everything else in their life. Get involved and help them follow their heart. Hopefully in time Ben will look back and think of the bonding time we had over theatre in the same way I remember my time watching sport with my Dad.