There’s no point in keeping up with something that does not bring you joy.

How many hobbies did you have when you were a kid? My mom loved to sign my sister and me up for all kinds of classes in our community center when we were young. I did ballet, chess, tennis, pottery, and even theater all by the time I was 10. Some classes lasted a few months, others stuck with me through high school, but I always loved trying new things and experimenting with new hobbies whenever I could.

Our mom always encouraged us to give each hobby a fair chance, but if we didn’t like it after more than ten classes, she was always attentive and ready to switch things up if that’s what we felt we needed. That’s why tennis only lasted two months in our household, and why I am still so bad at pottery to this day.

The fact that I was never forced to keep up with a class that I didn’t enjoy really helped me figure out what my interests are, like musical theatre and dance, and those I still carry with me to this day, even without the community classes. I am forever grateful for my mom and how she handled all of that.

Which is why I know the young 12-year-old boy in the story below will also be thankful for his parents. When he was a toddler, his mom signed him up for tap dance classes, and for a while, he loved it. But after a few years of doing it, the young teen developed interests in other hobbies, and dance is no longer one of them. In order to have enough time for the things he actually wants to do, the teen turned to his parents and asked them to stop the dancing lessons. And even though his mom was sad about it, she respected his decision.

The person who had an even harder time accepting his decision was actually the dance teacher, who was not ready to say goodbye to the only boy in class. She confronted the parents for their decision to pull their son from the classes, and crossed many lines in the process…