Father refuses to support his daughter’s ever-changing hobbies: ‘I just can’t keep giving in and pouring into different things that she won’t stick with. I have 2 other daughters that it’s also taking away from’

We have to be very careful differentiating between a lack of discipline and simply not liking a sport

Parents sometimes want something for their kid and forget to ask them if they want it. That’s what I assume it’s happening to the father in this story.  His daughter doesn’t strike me as volatile; she plays sports, she achieves relative success, I think she might not like it as much, and that’s about it.

To me, there has to be a time in life when you’re allowed to try many different things without being judged for it. Being young is your time to explore, to find out what you’re good at, what you’re bad at, what you like, what you don’t. Not everyone is born with a clear path in mind or knows what they want to do or what sport they want to play from a young age. Some people have to search for it, and the way to search is by trying.

After much exploring, then you can work on being disciplined. At least, that’s how I think about it. I remember my dad was also really strict about me trying a new hobby, and that only made everything worse. I started every new activity with guilt and wanting to be the best at everything to justify trying it in the first place. It wasn’t good; I wish I had been free to experiment.

I guess you can only solve something like this through talking; I don’t think decisions like these should be one-sided. I imagine the daughter has something to say about this, and it’s the father’s job to provide a safe space for her to do so; maybe he learns something important about her wants and needs!

Do you think this girl’s problem is discipline? Or does she need to try something different than what her father wants for her?