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Lisa admits she's pushed her 12-year-old daughter Amanda to be a figure skater since the age of 4—something she now regrets. "It was my dream, so I wanted to live through my daughter," Lisa says. "I literally took her to the skating rink and just pushed her on the ice and told her that this is what she wanted to do."
Lisa's pushing worked. Now Amanda is a full-blown ice addict, spending four hours a day, six days a week at the rink. But between coaches, skates, competitions, Pilates instruction and more, the family is spending an estimated $35,000 a year on Amanda's figure skating. "I think if I pulled the plug on this dream, I would be shattered, because my daughter would be shattered," Lisa says.
Even though Amanda wants to work toward her goal of making the Olympic team in 2010, for a 12-year-old, she admits to feeling enormous guilt. "I sometimes do feel bad," Amanda says. "…We all want vacations. I feel bad that I'm taking away [financially, from family], because they make so many sacrifices for me to fulfill my dream."
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