I am a naturalized American citizen and so the National Anthem came to my by default. I accept it, but it is hard to sing and really doesn't touch the soul of this country IMHO, but it is not for me to say. The German National Anthems were chauvinistic and "The Horst Wessel Lied' plain belligerent, so I am rather neutral on this subject. For Spirit and emotion I do like The Marsaillaise and Waltzing Matilda. Wish mine was "America, the Beautiful"

Susan, Maybe you should just come on over! LOL....we actually have fun with all the kids! We would rather sit around and have late sing-songs (that sounds nerdy) with the kids and their freinds.... We'll sit around with all of them, pull up their music (which we actually like) and proudly sing to the worst of our abilities! There are times I actually have to declare a "No other children in my house but MINE!" days.... Oh, have you heard the latest Foo Fighters CD??? Home made me cry! We also love Nickleback, Cross Canadian Ragweed....anything red-dirt, Elton John, the Doors, 80's underground music.... Southern bluesy soul.... Alex

I didn't read all the responses and don't have kids so I can only talk from being one. I don't think I would force him. Your sister's comment caught my eye with "if we don't get them in early than they will never really be as good as those who have played for years." I completely disagree. My parents were athletic and involved with sports. Dad since he was wee little and Mom in high school. We weren't allowed to play sports and be in all kinds of activities as kids. We were told once we hit high school, and sports were offered through the school, we could (which was 7th grade). My Dad worked long hours and Mom worked on and off through the years. She wasn't going to run all the time dragging us from sport to Girl Scouts, piano lessons, etc. As a kid I was a little disappointed but I also want to point out there wasn't much around where we live besides girl scouts or softball. I only ever wanted to try softball because of my one friend. ( BTW, never again had a desire to play.) Anyhow, as an adult I don't blame my parents one bit for that decision. I see parents running their kids every night to something and they don't have time to be a breathe. In 4th grade band was offered and I wanted to play the trumpet. Two weeks into it I wanted to quite and wasn't allowed. I'm glad they had me stay with it. I played all the way up until I graduated. Once I hit high school I played sports. I played on the varsity team as a freshman. I was very good at everything I was involved in and it was rare for Mom to miss a game, meet, etc. Dad was there when he could be. Schedules were very crazy. There's always room for improvement but I think a kid is generally either athletic or not. If you're not quite as good and you actually like the sport, most times you'll practice and practice even on your own time until you get better. DH thinks like your sister. (Yes, even though I'm a first hand example proving him wrong.) His parents were athletic and involved in sports as well. DH and his brothers all played sports as kids. He's passionate about having our future kids in activities when they're super little all the way up through the years. I've seen kids get burn out on sports. Kids that started when they were 2 wrestling and hated it by high school. A big difference from back then to now was we were made to go outside and play. When we did get a Nintendo and Super Nintendo our time was limited. So that being said, I think it's better for a kid to be involved with something vs. sitting on the couch in front of the tv, video games, or computer. I have no idea what we'll end up doing when the time comes. If they want to, I'm sure we'll give the ok but it's very important to me that we keep a balance. I know all this depends on a bunch of different factors but that's my story.

Without getting sexist about the issue, now you have me thinking part of this might be a girl thing men don't understand. Men and women communicate differently, we all know that. And it starts young. Yeah, our sons and daughters both need verbal stimuli and physical stimuli. But there really is a difference in the equation. Girls and women generally need that verbal release of stress every day. Boys need a physical release of stress. I know mothers suddenly frustrated by their 10-12 y/o son's intense physical expression. Someone new to boys might be annoyed by the natural change level of aggression that comes on pre-puberty. Boys are more likely to naturally release their daily stress by wrestling with each other, hitting a ball as hard as they can, running for no reason. I've seen it with my boys. Girls have to tell stories to someone to get the feelings out. Sometimes the same story over and over again. But of course we don't make that an excuse to let our boys aggression or physical expressions run rampant. They have to learn to focus and release it in healthy ways, or without taking it out on other people. So I can see that girls need to do the same thing, learn to focus that need to release in words, without taking it out too much on the people around them. ;o) I don't think I'd get her a cell phone either. I'd get a journal. I can see that she would learn to use the talking to control you sometimes, hold you hostage just to test the limits of your patience or even if she's angry at your control over her as a parent so she flexes control where she can. I will admit to having done that a few times in my life. I remember my mother having conversations with me about how I was using words to control other people's feelings. So I think the trick would be to recognize when 1)she truly needs to be heard, 2)when she's manipulating you, and 3) when it's casual conversation that only seems manipulative b/c you're worn out from your own day before she even saw you. My 13 y/o is a boy and doesn't do the talking thing. But he does the physical bully thing to his siblings. I send him outside to release that energy in a better way. He is learning to recognize in himself the energy building in him that will either come out as anger or controlled with exercise. My 10 y/o is a boy, too, and is starting to feel that physical energy he doesn't know what to do with. DD is only 7, but talks a lot, especially in the car! Sometimes when the AC is running I really cannot hear what she is saying. I had to tell her the other day I can either listen to her or run the AC, "Is what you're saying important enough to let the car get hot?" It wasn't. LOL, she chose the AC. Sometimes at home I've sat and listened to her for 20 minutes. But then it's like it encouraged her and she doesn't stop, she follows me right to the bathroom door and keeps talking. I have to tell her "It's not your turn anymore." Or if I'm trying to get dinner going and can't pay attention to so many things at once, or the kitchen noises make it impossible to have conversation at the same time, I just tell her "Is this really more important that our family having some dinner?" She needs to learn when it can wait. I think this sounds like an issue of family dynamics. While you don't want to let one member's habit control the family dynamics, you can't let resentment of that person's habit control the family dynamics either. You have to be careful not to generalize and define that person by that one annoying habit.