Push yourself but what about them?

If you love to workout and it makes you feel incredible, you know that pushing yourself is part of it!  It's the point where it starts to feel GOOD...sounds strange but so true!  

For those of us looking for a healthier lifestyle, you know that it takes dedication and drive!  You must go beyond where you've gone in the past!  Once you truly PUSH YOURSELF, amazing things will happen to your mind and body!  

 what about pushing our children? 

My oldest son LOVES sports.  He runs 1K races, plays baseball and is now trying flag football.    He picks up things very quickly and has great hand-eye coordination.  I am a former P.E teacher so I tend to expose him to all things sports/fitness because I want him to understand each one, that way he's able to choose the active things that he likes.  

HERE'S MY STRUGGLE;  growing up as a heavy, inactive child...I want the opposite for my children.  My husband agrees because he too, struggled with weight in his youth but was also an incredible baseball player.  The good news, our boys love the outdoors, they love being active and have watched their Daddy and I workout hard and they wanna be involved, we do NOT push that on them, we simply expose them to our lifestyle in hopes of them wanting that too.         

Ok, finally getting to the point-our son shows tons of motivation with sports AT HOME but take him onto the field and it's a different story.  He almost shuts down.  He's a shy kid, doesn't like attention but once he's comfortable...WATCH OUT!  He's hilarious, high-energy and will show you the side he likes to keep to himself around new people!  We aren't sure if he lacks confidence out there, so he simply doesn't TRY until he totally, 100% understands?  Being unsure is the hard part.  

So last week at practice, I was EXTREMELY frustrated with him, lost my cool and I'm embarrassed that I allowed myself to behave that way. Yea it was bad.  I know I am his mother, so of course I'm going to think that but honestly, I taught sports...he's got talent.  He played t-ball for 2 years, little league this past season and is JUST NOW coming out of his shell and going to the batting cages hitting 44mi/hr pitches...pretty good for a 5-year old right??  But it's like he won't put forth the effort that he gives at home in our backyard...it had me so worked up.  

So my question to all of the parents out there, Do you push your child when you know they aren't giving 100% or do you LET GO of that control and let them enjoy being young and figure it out for themselves?  I am torn between the two, but am leaning toward allowing him (he is ONLY 5yrs old) to figure things out at his own pace and completely back off...

Today's Workout & my back injury:  5 mile walk in the neighborhood.  I still cannot run/jog, not even for a few steps.  I do need to see a doctor but I keep putting it off in fear of bad news...that's awful, I know.  My back hurts constantly and the pain shoots down my thighs and legs continuously.  It's miserable.  I have never been injured to the point where I cannot do any form of exercise other than walking.  EVER.  When I broke my foot in college, I taught kickboxing with a boot/cast on....yea, seriously!  So this is hard for me to deal with but I'll manage and hopefully get myself to a doctor sooner rather than later  :-(
Good news is that my eating is going very well right now so once I get up to running again, I should be on a roll...remember, it's all about BALANCE for each and every one of us!