Follow Your Dreams..?

My son wants to wear a unitard.

Whew, it was a relief... if not... um... weird... to get that off my chest.

But really.

We took a little trip to a kids gym this weekend. The kids had a blast. They jumped on the trampoline, slid down a slide into a pit of plastic balls and swung from rings suspended from the ceiling. And... my son found he has a natural affinity for doing this...

Future Olympian?

Not if his daddy has anything to say about it.

What is it about sports involving tights/spandex/unitards that kind of make men squirm?

We say we want our children to chase after their dreams... as long as they are in sync with ours.

My husbands chest would puff out in pride every time my son begged daddy to take him to the driving range. His eyes would fill up with tears as our son picked up such phrases as, "whoa dad, I bombed that drive! or "Hole in one!" or MY personal favorite... "that was a crap shot" And dear dad would curl in a fetal position (thumb in mouth with his pointer finger curled around his nose) sobbing with pride when Little Mister, in response to the question, "Who's your favorite golfer" exclaimed, "My daddy!"

Can life get any better than this? Your 3 year old son out driving teenagers and following after YOUR dream without any prodding from you? I submit that it cannot. It's easy at these moments to arrogantly announce to others that you should let your childrens wings unfurl and chase after whatever dream they have. Who are we as parents to determine the path our children take? If we but set a good example for them, our children will follow in our footsteps. They will be productive members of our community. They will be successful. They will make lots of money and provide mommy and daddy with a very comfortable retirement on the beaches of barbedos... what?

Okay, but what happens when previously gifted child prodigy extraordinaire changes those dreams and his new dreams involve a unitard, uneven bars and a unitard. That word alone gives me chills. If my child is going to wear one someday, we must come up with a more politically correct term for it... how about uni-developmentally disabled.

Much better.

But seriously, we would be jumping up and down if our daughter wanted to be a gymnist or a ballet dancer. Either of those sports (and yes, I would consider them sports because of the huge amount of talent, coordination, and athleticism that go into them) are respectable. I would LOVE to see Kobe hold himself parallel to the ground while suspended from rings hanging from the ceiling. Paul Hamm could take Kobe anyday!

So why would my husband (and lets face it, probably me too) probably get the bum chills if our son did take on one of these as his sport of choice?

Two words: the unitard

Can you imagine Tiger Woods winning the Masters cup in one? Although, lets be honest... poses like this:

were made for a man sporting tights.

Come to think of it, a lot of other sports would be pretty darn entertaining if their participants were dressed in a unitard...

I know I'd watch 'em...

What do you think?