Neither my husband nor I have much interest in sports, but we would like our very bookish DS6 to be involved in some kind of physical activity. In the past, he's played soccer and taken swimming lessons, and for the last year he's been taking tae kwon do. However, in all three cases, he has eventually come to dread the activity and has asked to drop out.
I can think of a number of explanations for this pattern. DS is not a natural athlete. He over-thinks things, which inhibits him and interferes with his coordination. He's not a risk taker. He's a perfectionist who is very quick to give up on things that he doesn't do well. He's very self-critical and often judges himself even more harshly than teammates or coaches. And he's especially self-conscious around adults, so he seems to have bouts of performance anxiety when a coach or instructor puts him on the spot.
My question is, how do we help him work through this? We want him to have the experience of successfully confronting a real challenge. We also want him to learn to be comfortable in his own skin. But how do you teach persistence and self-forgiveness? And are there some sports or activities that might be better for him than what we've tried?
