Decision Time

We had to make a difficult decision, or should I say, N had to make one in choosing either the local Summer camp or hockey camp. It was a hard choice for him, and I understand completely and feel bad that it had to come to this. On the one hand, the local summer camp is run by our friends and he went last year with his sister. It’s attended by the local kids, and they do fun stuff in the wild, though he is the youngest one there, and he tends to tag along with his sister.

With his recent interest in hockey, we signed him up for hockey camp to help him develop his skating and skills in the hopes that he may play in the Fall, but I then realized that there was a time conflict. He had to choose, and at first was sort of leaning to the local camp because A is going and he had a blast last year.

I have to confess, I leaned a little more to hockey camp, for a number of reasons. First off, if he wants to play hockey, he is a bit behind the curve with the other kids, and the more practice he can get in, the more fun I think he’ll have once the season starts. The second, and in my opinion more important, issue is that I really think we’ve reached a juncture where N should develop his own interests outside of his sister’s sphere of influence. This process has already begun, with A forming friendships with girls her own age, and younger brothers are not always welcome.

This is heartbreaking for him, but the reality is, at some point, he’s not going to want to hang with his the big girls, anyway. At least until he reaches the age when he wants to be around girls, but that’s a few years away. Either way, I think hockey is a way for him to form his own identity and meet kids his own age that share his interest. Sure, I’m not so keen on the whole hockey scene, it’s an entire sub-culture in and of itself, but I’m not one for scenes, anyway, so I have to just deal with it.

Plus, I think it’s good for N to take part in something he might not only be good at, but can nurture in his own way, on his own terms. Most of his life has been spent tagging along with his big sister and following her lead. I think for both of them this may be running its course, but I could be wrong. They do get along well, but they are different people, and obviously it’s good to acknowledge their respective strengths.

We’ll see where this goes. I’m finding that hockey is just another arena for me to get neurotic about, but what else is new?

Until the next time, thanks for reading, and thanks to Andrew Beierle for the pic.