Finding your thing

What was my thing when I was a child and teenager? Reading? Sleeping in? Sulking? It definitely wasn't sport related; I gave up netball when it meant I couldn't have long fingernails.

Joss is very studious now that she is in Year 11. Her half-yearly exams were last week, so she hasn't cycled much of late, but it is still her thing. Toby was into cycling for a long time but has dropped it now in favour of tennis, though he also benefits from having music. Piano is his first love there, but drums are coming up fast - he plays in church and gets his frustrations out (study breaks - his exams start next week) on the electric drum kit we have at home.

Drawing has always been something that Bethany does, but she doesn't have lessons or do it formally. She has played soccer, done dancing at school and drama, but her newest passion (not a word I like to overuse, but Bethany is nothing if not passionate) is gymnastics.

It started at school with her friends and at home on the trampoline. We bought her a mat to save her head and the carpet and now she has started going to gymnastics on Tuesday afternoon for two hours.

It's pretty chaotic; there are seemingly hundreds of kids in the gym. They form groups and go around to coaches at different apparatus. Bethany has a friend from school who started on the same day; when they finished she said it was the best day of her life. It's very hard to photograph, but she is loving it.

That swirl in the middle? That's Bethany!