Little League season is fast approaching. That means a certain boy in my house has been super excited to get out his glove and bat and get on the baseball diamond. No, it’s not my youngest son, he is just starting tee ball. No, it’s not my oldest son (more on him later.) It’s my husband! He’s been looking forward to Little League season since last year. All week he’s been trying to engage my oldest in baseball conversations. All week he’s been trying to get my oldest excited about getting his cleats on.

But my oldest doesn’t really care. He says he’s never really like baseball. Now that he’s ten years old, apparently he has the wherewithal to actually express this lack of desire. My husband was devastated. Like many American men, he likes reliving his sports career vicariously through his son. It’s one of those things I understand that I don’t understand. But now it’s a family dilemma. Should we encourage our son to play baseball anyway, or listen to his immediate desire?

On the one hand, I don’t want to push my son to do anything he doesn’t want to do. On the other, he should play some sort of sport right? (My husband clearly thinks so.) I mean, if my son said he didn’t want to go to school, I wouldn’t certainly force to him to go. I want to do what’s in my child’s best interest, but what’s that? How many adults complain about how their parents forced them to play an instrument or a sport against their will? How many adults complain about how their parents didn’t force them to learn to swim or play an instrument? It seems 50-50. What’s a parent to do? Really, the question is, is baseball actually good for you? That’s an argument I will certainly not have with the hubby.