Too Many Choices & Soccer

My wife said to my son, "Would you rather have X or Y?" He replied, "Yes." Not five minutes later, my wife asked my daughter, "Would you rather X or Y?" She replied, "No." I wonder if someone tipped them off to the parenting book we're reading about empowering your kids through choices and they conspired to sabotage our efforts. Or maybe my listening skills are rubbing off on my children again.

When exciting things come up in my son's life, we try not to make a big deal of it before it happens. It makes him very anxious and shy about it. So, even though I can't wait until his first soccer game of the season tomorrow, I've been bottling it in. Tonight, when I tucked him in, he told me he was excited about soccer tomorrow. I was tempted to let all my excitement out, but I tried to temper it a little and talk about some of the fun things about soccer other than scoring. He especially loves playing goalie and blocking the ball--at least last year. To be neutral, I thought I'd divert his excitement to getting a new shirt. He can't get stage fright about that, and he is excited about it. The only worry is that he'll get his hopes up for a Buzz Lightyear soccer shirt like the one he has. Last year he cried at his first practice because he had his hopes up to play for the Brazilian soccer team. Can't win 'em all. But I'd rather lose on a T-shirt than on him having fun playing.