Should I buy stilts for my daughter?

This morning, my 8-year old daughter asked my wife and me if we could get her some stilts.  She had been using some "As seen on TV" exercise equipment in stilt-like fashion recently.  I told her that if she wanted to invest some of her allowance, I'd be willing to invest some of my money too in some stilts.  I figured that if she is showing interest in an activity, I should probably encourage it.  And walking on stilts is a physical activity that would help with her balance and it's a fun, unique skill to acquire.

Freya said to us that a girl in school had stilts.  I said, "How do you know? Did she bring them in to school?"  And Freya said, "Yes. She uses them everyday.  She has a broken leg."

So, yes, Freya meant that she wanted some crutches to play with, not stilts.  This got me thinking, how many activities should you encourage your child to do?  What's appropriate?

I believe that the answer to that is different for every parent and every family.  In our family, we offer choices to our children and allow them to decide.  Our two children have tried horseback riding, various sports, karate, art, music, and of course gymnastics. Although our children are never going to be Olympic gymnasts, we have kept them in gymnastics to help develop their strength, coordination, flexibility and balance.  The outcome is that they are able to keep up with their peers on the playground and on the sports field.  And when I see my daughter swing across a long set of monkey bars, or my son running around third base, I am overwhelmed by my pride in them, and happy that they're able to be proud of themselves too.