RE: [RC] kids~one likes hores, the other???? - Nancy Sturm
Oh, I don't know Lori, I don't think you need to feel guilty for going off without her - maybe for making her do something she really doesn't love, however.
As a horse-riding mother of eight (yes, count them eight), from age 42 to age 11, I've pretty much been there, done that on the riding kid thing. What worked best, for our family was to let the child guide. Right now I am having an absolutely terrific time riding with one adult daughter and a 14 year old grandson (but not her son). The grandson's mom, who rode plenty as a child, just isn't ready to start up again. The riding daughter rode very little as a child, although we always had horses and ponies available, but she's riding her first LD in two weeks.
From my long term perspective, I'd rather make the investment in the future, letting my young daughter make her own choice and praying that she'll see how much fun everyone else is having and become a lifetime riding partner rather than a reluctant draggin'.
I have a kid question, do any of you here, have one child that wants to ride and the other does not? I have an 8 yr. old son who wants to ride, and a 10 year old daughter thinking that she doesn't want to anymore. We finally got the "right" kind of horses for the kids to learn on and feel comfortable to go out and trail ride. We bought a horse for my daughter in Feb. and she was all gung-ho, and now she's fizzled out, say's she wants no part. I've asked her if she's scared, "no", I've asked her all kinds of questions, and basically she just say's "nah" to the whole thing. I told her that was fine originally that I wasn't going to force her to do something that she didn't want to do, but she had to realize that everyone else "still" wanted to ride, and how was it going to be when mom, dad, and brother wanted to ride and she had to go stay with someone, is she going to feel left out? How do you guy's deal with it? I know she will ultimately feel left out, it's her nature to, and I know that mom's going to be riding feeling guilty and heartbroke that she's not along. Any advice?
