January 14, 2012 | Day 14

It's very important to us as parents, that our kids are given as many opportunities as possible.  Sport, music, dancing.  They're all important in helping a child discover who they can be,  as well as creating fantastic opportunities for them to form new friendships and relationships outside of home and school.  Sam's thing is sport.  In fact he is sport mad!  Until he started playing cricket he was a shy kid who spent more time sick than healthy.  He was always anxious about pretty much everything and was somewhat uncoordinated.  Then three years ago  he started playing cricket. The change in him was amazing.  He was suddenly enthusiastic and confident.  He made new friends and learnt lessons in discipline and perseverance from his coaches as well as  acquiring skills and fitness.  The illnesses slowly diminished and the anxiety disappeared. Thing is... we discovered Sam is awesome at cricket.  How would we have ever known that if we had never given him the opportunity to play.  It's not just that fact that he totally rocks at cricket though.  It makes him so happy (he sleeps with his cricket bat IN the bed.  I kid you not!) and that's the most important thing.  Just as Georgie's outlet is dancing her heart out, and JJ's is his art and music, Sam's is cricket (and basketball, and soccer and this year he will start AFL).  We start training up again on Monday and he's dying to get out there on the pitch.  This afternoon we took a trip down to the cricket nets so he could practice before trials and he showed us the fancy moves he picked up from watching the test matches on telly.    So it looks like another season of spending every Saturday at the cricket.  That's ok though,  because how I could I complain when it makes him so happy.

Batting our way through Day 14.

B xx    

A bat and ball is all he needs.