We Let Our Son Quit Football - What Next?
by Mike
I realize this is a long question, but I really do feel like I need to give some context. My son is 9 wanted to sign up for football this season. I think his interest mostly came due to my interest in the sport. He made it through the first week of practice without any problems. I thought this would be the hardest for him because it was mostly conditioning. Once he got his pads and full contact was imminent, he complained of being nervous and of not wanting to do it. He broke into tears before practice the night he was supposed to go full contact for the first time. I allowed him to sit the day out and my wife and I had a long talk with him and explained how important it was for him to give it a chance. We explained that if he quit, he would regret it further down the road. He agreed to give it a chance the next night. When the time came, he broke down again and started saying how much he did not like any of the difficult parts of the sport - the conditioning, hitting, etc. After almost an hour of trying to convince him to stick with it, I decided to try a reverse psychology role on him and tell him to turn his pads in. We drove to the school, and he turned his pads into his coach and told him he was quitting. My wife and I are unsure what to do now that we have allowed him to quit. We invested a lot of money into this for him and it has been lost, so we want to make sure he realizes all of the consequences of he decisions and the value of sticking with something that he begins. We are not sure if we should discipline him for this or how to respond. I don't want him to grow up hating football or any other sports, or be afraid to try something new in fear of just quitting again. Please share your advice. Sincerely, Mike Have a favorite hobby or passion? Build a web site and share your knowledge with the world. No technical skills required: 
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