How may I gently discourage my chubby, untalented step-daughter from taking up figure skating this winter?

Look. I know mothers love their kids and want them to be famous and successful someday. But this is your dream, not hers.

You do not want your kid growing up hating you for forcing her into skating. The Olympics is NOT all there is in figure skating. There are tests, smaller competitions at all different levels, and coaching, which is a very rewarding career.

Olympics should never, ever, ever be the only goal in figure skating, and it should not even be thought of until the skater successfully lands a double axel or a few triples. Triples by 9? Do you know the impact done to a tiny, 80 pound nine year old's body from triples?

It's not worth the risk, sorry. She could possibly injure herself for life or end up needing multiple knee surgeries. Tara Lipinski, owner of the 3loop/3loop combo, had to have a hip replacement at 18.

And there have been plenty of skaters that did not get triples until 12, 14, 16 and still went on to win Nationals and Worlds, and even a few Olympics. I also was very shocked from your 'that's cute and all' comment about your 13 year old daughter. Just because she's not likely to go to the Olympics doesn't mean you should just give up on her like that.

A 13 year old skater can still be extremely successful in figure skating. She can achieve a goal such as competing at Sectionals, or she can train to become a coach, which will supply a lifelong career that she'll love doing. You should be encouraging her to reach her goals and putting just as much time and effort into her skating as you do into your 2 year old's skating.

You're a mother to your 13 year old- never forget that. If she doesn't like skating, then back off. Ask her if there's anything else she wants to do- ballet or something.

A 2 year old is not all that likely to love skating- they're stuck on a cold surface, unable to move. Don't force your child into something she doesn't like. Some other time- say when she is 7, or 10, take her to skating lessons again (she won't remember not liking it at 2.) And a 2 year old -definitely- knows what she likes and what she doesn't like.

Allow her to make her own decisions. Never control your childrens' lives- it won't do anything good for your relationship. I've been very tough on you, but I do not want to see another child crying as their mother forces them onto the ice, intent on making the next Olympian.

People excel at sports professionally because they were often talented and gifted at an early age, thus allowing them to experience more improvement and a greater feeling of uplifting happiness from doing what they are good at. It gives them self confidence to know that they have a skill or value that is superior to those around them. If, however, their early experiences with a sport or activity was mostly negative, they will never achieve the internal motivation to keep practicing and excelling at it.

Certainly not to the level that the Olympics would require. The Chinese often believe that one needs to get children young and start training them for such. That methodology has produced some outstanding atheletes, but it has also produced many failures.

Comparably, China's economy is far lower in output than the US, even though the US has a third of the population that China has. That's because the US philosophy is often centered around not telling children what path in life they will take, but allowing self-discovery through self-determination. Whether a person has a fate or not, will be entirely dependent upon whether they wish to take up that route or not.

I cant really gove you an answer,but what I can give you is a way to a solution, that is you have to find the anglde that you relate to or peaks your interest. A good paper is one that people get drawn into because it reaches them ln some way.As for me WW11 to me, I think of the holocaust and the effect it had on the survivors, their families and those who stood by and did nothing until it was too late.