The Try-Out Season

Boredom - the curse of all rainy days, the curse of all whom lack the ability to think of stuff to do. Is this one of the reasons more than a handful of people I know constantly experience depression and end up eating a tub of ice-cream while watching some re-runs of Friends? Well, according to my experiences, yes, and I believe I’ve found the solution – no, it’s not pills that taste like strawberries and make you smile like no tomorrow, it’s called “the Try-Out Season”.

During my life my parents strived to let me choose almost everything I wanted out of as many options as possible. In my life this ranged from my hobbies to daily food. My parents always said that you have to let your child experience the world in order to help them know themselves a lot better. Of course, some might think that letting your 4-year-old choose the fact that he wants to try out Rugby might lead into serious injury that will eventually ruin his life, or make it worse. Well, in some cases that might be the truth, but that might just happen as he’s walking across the room and then trip on some toy lying around the floor. Now, which of these would you think would lead into a more “happier ending”? Well, if I’m correct (like I always am), a child is much happier when (s)he is given the option to choose stuff in his life. Simply putting it, you should let your child choose as many things as possible in almost any situation. With this I guarantee that child will learn more about himself than you he would when you choose the “better” options for him. Children learn a huge amount of things from the people around them, and when they give him free hands to choose in many areas, he will learn tolerance and will eventually lead into a more collective way of thinking. Now I’m no doctor or scholar, but I came up with this through my own experiences in life and by observing how my siblings and my relatives grown during life. Now I’m not saying that parents should just give their kids a piece of paper and then let them do the stuff there in order. Parents should give the options, and then explain how that option would work in that situation. When choosing what to eat for dinner, explain why you shouldn’t eat Orios for dinner, and why lettuce and pasta would work a lot better in this case – well, if the kid still wants the Orios after a thorough explanation “that it doesn’t help you grow big and strong, but might just make you sick if eaten in big volumes.”, then I believe the kid should just experience this thing on his own. Naturally, in these cases I do think that with a right choice in words, and with a more educative approach on the situation, the kid WILL get to learn the “right” choices in life.

My parents let me choose my hobbies all the time. If I didn’t like some sport of activity, then I quit it and then my parents gave me ideas on different things to try out during my life. This started when I was approximately 3-4 years of age. Well, first of all that lead (at least in my case) into a healthy addiction to sports, and the fact that I like to keep myself fit. As I grew up doing sports, it grew as a part pf my life, and I just can’t give up the weekly practices and activities I grew up doing. Yes, this just might be of some help to increase the fitness of people around the world. Since even though I believe that most people are aware of this, they still never seem to get it. During my life I’ve tried everything, from martial arts to collecting stamps. With all of this, I’ve learnt something, be it something small, or something big like learning to control my movements in order to remove the stamp as delicate as possible. Either way, I’ve always learned something about me, and about different people and how they operate with different things. Even to this day I’ve learnt that I shouldn’t judge people, food etc. without first talking to the person or eating the food. Now if this doesn’t increase tolerance, then what does?

Well, now onto explaining the actual idea behind the Try-Out Season. Well, simply it means that you should let your kids choose as many things in life as possible through their life. I don’t mean AFTER they turn 10 or something, but from as an early stage as possible. No, I don’t mean that you should start immediately to let them choose even the biggest things in life at first, but so far something like a hobby will eventually lead to go things. And naturally increasing the seriousness of the decisions will be healthy as the child grows up. Also, I believe this Try-Out season never ends to be franc. You should always try and experience things in life. If the food looks disgusting, that doesn’t automatically mean that it’s bad or tastes really horrible. Or if that guy’s skin is black, it doesn’t mean that that dude is any worse than the white guy next to him with a suit on.

Now let’s summarize what this has actually done in my life, and how the effects have made it better:

I’m a lot more open to new ideas, and change in life doesn’t seem that big and scary anymore. I tolerate people a lot more, and I’ve built a nice base for social actions through meeting new people in my new and old hobbies, you always find people with similar interests through that. I’m also a bit more creative, and using the things I’ve learnt from different hobbies and activities I can act and think outside the box. With this I’ve found some of the biggest passions in my life, some things which will stay with me through my entire life. I found basketball, and after 10 years of playing it, I can say that I’ve found one of the things that I’ll later on teach to my kids as well, as well as improving my physical fitness and a positive view of myself – I’m not fat and ugly in my mind after I do sports 7 times a week. Really, that’d be impossible. Also, through experimenting, I also found anime, again another thing that I’ll take even to the old-folks-home later when I retire – now isn’t that a pretty freaky idea; an old guy watching some Fullmetal Alchemist while eating soup through a straw.

Now people, try things out, experiment with different ideas. I know plenty of people who are too scared of trying something out because of the fear of losing their faces in front of their friends and family. But if you really want to try something out, then DO SO, otherwise you’ll end up regretting it later in life. So far only positive things have come from my parents letting me choose my own way in life, even as a 12-year-old, I still remember feeling like an adult, and feeling that I’m ready for the world. Now if you choose everything for your kids through their life, then how do you expect them to choose anything else themselves later in life? – Let me tell you something; it’ll turn out to be quite the challenge later in life, since you have to learn it, just like learning to ride the bicycle. One of the most effective and most mentally fulfilling experiences in ones life is traveling. I can’t think of anything more effective in helping one to learn different aspects in life and different views that different people have. A very effective way to learn tolerance and acceptance among people.

Hopefully this shed at least some light in this area, since I really felt that I could help some people in this area a bit by writing this – yea, it just might be my narcissistic ideal that I’m always right and you aren’t, but this is just how I see things.

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