My kids all have varying interests: cooking, ballet, sewing and knitting...Oh, and did I mention I was talking about my sons as well?

Because I am an avid knitter, I thought teaching my oldest to knit when he was in kindergarten might help him strengthen the manual dexterity that often develops later in boys, and that in turn, would help him with writing. As it turned out, he enjoyed knitting. In fact, when he did his homeschool service project last year, he chose a knitting project, and recruited his dad by teaching him to knit also! He comes with me to the weekly Teen and 'Tween Knitting Circle that I facilitate, where he is one of about five boys out of fourteen or so kids!

My youngest son loves knitting as well, though currently he only “finger knits,” but has expressed a desire to learn to knit the way his older brother and sister do.

Both of my sons have taken dance. My oldest took hip-hop and my youngest, after being enthralled with the Russian bon-bons in The Nutcracker stated on the spot that he was going to be on that stage doing back flips. Thus, we put him in a short ballet class to gauge his seriousness, attention span, and see if he could follow instruction (the class began mere weeks after his 5th birthday). If he could pass our litmus test, we would put him in the longer tumbling and acrobatics class.

Not only did he enjoy class, his teacher (a former professional ballerina, mind you!) pulled his dad aside to tell him that our youngest has “natural talent” (adding that he is “a ham!”) and that if he kept at it, might someday be able to dance the part of the Prince in his beloved Nutcracker!

Armed with that, I enrolled him in the Fall production of The Nutcracker (his sister was already enrolled). When his teacher found out, she had him to a couple of things for her before class, and she declared right then and there that she had “something in mind” for him to do in the production!

My oldest has embraced cooking. In first grade, he was part of a 4-H troop and chose Candymaking as his activity for the year. He begs me to let him make breakfast and lunch for himself and his siblings. I've told him that I've seen a few cooking classes offered by our homeschooling community, and he seems eager and interested.

My daughter loves to play Hot Wheels, Speed Racer, and trains with her brothers. She's played various sports with them and enjoys it.

All of the children have very “gender-traditional” interests as well. So, what is the point? Allow your children to explore and develop interests that might be “non-traditional.” Many parents fear that allowing their children to do so may “make” their children “gay.” This belief is based on fear, misinformation and a lack of understanding about basic child development, since children “try on” a variety of interests, personas, and other things before settling on who they are and what they want to do “when they grow up.”

I love that my kids feel confident enough in themselves to explore a variety of experiences. It makes them richer human beings for the trying!

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