I agree with intparent - when I read your post the first thing that came into my mind was what occured to me when I was a child - my parents were adament that I take piano NO MATTER WHAT along with playing tennis- for piano...this went on for 3 years - by the end of the 3rd year I loathed playing, my parents did everything from threaten to awards to get me to practice - I was pretty good but I hated it with a passion and the more I was forced to do it, the more I hated it. I finally flat out refused and they got tired of the constant arguing and thank god I was allowed to stop. For tennis, I was sent to tennis camp after tennis camp every single summer and was forced to play on a team - I was made to play for many, many years - I was very good and was ranked in the state by my early teenage years but I absolutely despised the sport. Finally when I went into highschool I WAS allowed to pick what I wanted to do - my loves were art and swimming. To this day, I absolutely despise tennis and piano with a passion and want nothing to do with either one - all the bad memories of being forced into doing something I never wanted to do come back when the subject is even brought up.

When our child was born, I told my husband that I refuse to force him into doing something he does not want to do as far as activities go...we decided that we would offer suggestions for activities and watch to see his interests - we also try to expose him to a wide variety of things and have allowed him to switch. It has worked out very well - he has found a large variety of new and interesting activities to try and do all without forcing him into something he does not want to do.