I have an 11-year-old son named Peter. I knew that playing sports would be good to our son. He would get some exercise, learn about teamwork and learn some physical skills. We continually encouraged him to have a try, but after a while it was clear that he didn’t like team sports, and there was nothing we could do to change it.
我有一个11岁的儿子，名叫彼得。我知道运动对我们的儿子有好处。可以锻炼身体，学习团队合作，学习一些身体技能。我们不断鼓励他尝试，但过了一段时间，很明显他不喜欢团队运动，我们也无法改变这一点。
We decided not to push him to take part in sports, even though most of his friends did sports. As time went by, we gradually realized that we had made the right decision. Don’t misunderstand me. I have nothing against sports. Now my son isn’t interested in sports, but I’m not pushing him to do sports. Here are the reasons:
我们决定不强迫他参加体育运动，尽管他的大多数朋友都参加体育运动。随着时间的推移，我们逐渐意识到我们做出了正确的决定。别误会我。我并不反对运动。现在我儿子对运动不感兴趣，但我不会逼他做运动。原因如下：
I want him to know I accept him unconditionally. I don’t even want Peter to feel that I will love him only if he behaves in a certain way or takes part in some activities. Whether he succeeds or fails, he will always be my son, and that will never change.
我想让他知道我无条件地接受他。我甚至不想让彼得觉得，只有当他以某种方式行事或参加某些活动时，我才会爱他。无论他成功还是失败，他永远是我的儿子，这一点永远不会改变。
I want him to form his own path in life. His path doesn’t have to be the same as mine. In fact, we both have similar interests in several areas like music, computers and Star Wars, but we’re also different in many ways. Peter needs to be free to go his own path.
我希望他在生活中有自己的路，他的路不必和我的一样。事实上，我们在音乐、电脑和《星球大战》等几个领域都有相似的兴趣，但我们在很多方面也有所不同。彼得需要自由地走自己的路。
I want him to know that I don’t judge my worth by his achievements. Every father will feel proud of his son if he can make great achievements. So most parents always push them so hard. Sometimes we have seen ourselves indirectly through our own sons. Their achievements remind us of our wonderful days in the past. We must make sure we don’t want to make up for our own regrets by pushing our sons to climb higher and go further than we did.
我想让他知道，我不会以他的成就来评判我的价值。如果儿子能取得巨大成就，每个父亲都会为他感到骄傲。因此，大多数父母总是对他们施加极大的压力。有时，我们通过自己的儿子间接地看到了自己。他们的成就让我们想起了过去的美好时光。我们必须确保我们不想通过推动我们的儿子比我们爬得更高、走得更远来弥补我们自己的遗憾。
