She sighed and seemed to hesitate a little before saying, “I think it’s great that you take him on Saturdays and spend time with him, Dane. But I just worry that you might be…well…sorta forcing him to like tennis.”

I stared at her in confusion for a few seconds, because this had honestly never crossed my mind. She must have seen the expression on my face, because she stepped closer to me and put her hand on my shoulder. “I know you wouldn’t do it on purpose, sweetie. I just don’t want him to feel like he needs to love tennis in order to spend time with you.”

I continued to stare at her, flabbergasted and more than slightly offended by what she was implying. When I could finally bring myself to speak, all I could say was “I have no idea how you can think that of me.”

“No no no,” she said quickly, moving round me when I turned away so she could still meet my eyes. “Oh, baby, I know it wouldn’t even be something you’d consider. I just know so many parents that love a particular sport and their kids end up feeling like they have to love it too.”

“I’d never push him into it if he doesn’t want to play,” I informed her. “But tennis is something I enjoy and I wanted to share that with my son.”

“And that’s great! But please just try not to make tennis the only thing you share with him. I don’t want him to feel like he needs to be interested in it to have you love him.” She paused. “I’m sorry, I really don’t mean to be a bitch here and I know I offended you. I didn’t mean to. I really didn’t. I just don’t want him to feel like you’ll only love him if he’s good at tennis, even if that’s not what you mean by it.”

I shook my head, still somewhat offended although I did see her point. “Look, if he should decide that he likes it, that’s fine. If not, that’s fine too. He’s a toddler! I just take him with me so we can spend some time together. I don’t want to push him into anything or try to get him to like something. I’ll love him no matter what he does or likes, and you should know that.”