Life Coach Maybe?

Sit and read any parenting magazine and you will see articles about parents pushing their kids too hard for success.  My daughter attends 2 nights a week for 3 hours per night gymnastics, that is what is expected of her at her ability level. The coaches would like more and they know that their time is valuable and every moment they can spend with the kids will improve on their scores and abilities. Now she loves gymnastics but her true love is horses and I can't say that I am not happy about that cause I AM. I have wanted my kids to love horses as much as me since the moment they were born. I wanted them to want to ride and want to rodeo and want to be involved in the sport that I love so so much. Now I got what I want both my girls LOVE to ride and I am so thrilled for that.  Now I find myself questioning how hard to I push them.. what is enough... what is too much.

•  If they were ice skaters we would be getting them up at 4 am for morning practices before school.
• We know people who's children leave school at 1 pm to attend Gymnastics for afternoon practice.
• If paid coaches were telling my that my kids had potential for greatness, I think I would be so flattered that I would be more willing to push them.

But rodeo is different, I am not sending my kids to a trainer and paying hundreds of dollars a month for a professional to "tell" me my kids are bound for greatness.   I am the one who has to decide how hard to push them, how long and how many times a week they need to ride, where to enter them where to haul them, what level of competition they are ready for.. All these decisions are left up to my husband and I.  Now some would and will say.. "keep it fun, Alicia" ... but is that really what I should do. Allow them to just do it when it is fun to them and when they so please?  To me it isn't about them winning buckles and awards, those will come. It is the learning to put in the hard work and sweat it takes to be a winner in this sport. I want them to learn the love of the animal and the love of the competition.

Maybe when it gets right down to it I worry about how it is going to look to everyone else.. How my parenting appears to be to others. AM I A GOOD MOM? AM I DOING THE RIGHT THINGS WITH MY KIDS? I really want my kids to do well and I want to give them EVERY opportunity in the world.  I want to push them without driving them to hate it. So maybe maybe a Life Coach is what I need for me instead of Rodeo Coach for my kids????