Our family has spent most nights during the past two weeks watching the Summer Olympics. For my kids -- ages 8 and 11 -- one of the best things about this has been exposing them to so many different sports featuring world-class athletes.

While paying special attention to sports like gymnastics, swimming and basketball that they participate in, they've also expressed interest in trying other sports, like volleyball, badminton, pole vaulting and diving, that they watched.

This is a great opportunity to build on this Olympic inspiration and have my kids try some of these sports. While we're not going to rush out and start pole vaulting anytime soon, we've had several discussions about what sports they liked most and might like to try. I'm eager to see where this inspiration may lead.