My 5 year old daughter was afraid to ride her new bike. So to help her adjust. I installed a towbar that connected her little bike to mine.
Still afraid, it took me about an hour of convincing to get her to ride with me. “Honey, it’s ok to be afraid, it’s not ok to give up,” I said.
“But what if I fall?”
I sighed and repeated for the 20th time “I won’t let you fall, it’s solid. Besides, it’s ok to fall, it’s just not ok to give up.”
Eventually, I was able to convince her to get on her bike so we could ride the neighborhood. Soon, she was squealing in glee at how much fun it was to ride tandem.
Unfortunately, on the way up a steep hill a bolt jiggled loose and the towbar disconnected, causing us both to fall off our bikes.
I was afraid she was hurt and upset I had let her down. “Honey, I’m so sorry. It’s all my fault,” I said picking her up. “I give up! Let’s walk our bikes home.”
She looked at me and smiled and said “Daddy, it’s ok that we fell, it’s not ok to give up.”
{ 5 comments }
That was nice!!!
What a beautiful image to see father and daughter share feelings, experiences and….lessons….!!!!
That’s LOVE!!!
Kids can be such powerful motivators … when my son was born I had gained a few more pounds than I wanted to be carrying (!). He went away for a few weeks between 2 and 3 years old. When he returned he sat on my lap one day, patted my ‘bulge’ and said “Daddy, it’s getting big, isn’t it?”
Time to get on my bike!
Rod
Dora, thanks for your nice comments. Sometimes as a parent it seems like the kids never listen to what you say. It’s great when not only have they listened, they reflect back your advice in such a powerful way.
Rod, was this your first? I put on a few pounds during my wife’s first pregnancy for some reason. I was able to lose it. But it seems fairly common for men to gain during pregnancy times. And back to your comment…Kids’ innocence and honesty can be both painful and enlightening huh?
Yes, my first (and only).
The great thing is that now he seems to be responding to the idea of setting goals. He was asking me tonight about how he can get me to get him a Wii game console (or whatever it is that he wants). At 8 years of age I hope to be able to set him up for life with the tools for setting realistic and achievable goals. I don’t want him to have a deprived childhood, but I also don’t want him to have it too easy, so setting a series of steps as you suggested a couple of days ago will be the way I go.