Fearless

I am stunned by what I learn from my daughter. She is fearless and I am so proud of her confidence, strength and love of life. This weekend she gave me a healthy dose of exactly what I needed.

Saturday, we made a stop at the Columbus Arts Festival, and from a far, Caroline spotted the “jumbo blow up slide.“ You know the brightly colored ones that you can rent for birthday parties, and kids will go up and down all day long. How very attractive for a child. This was a big slide, and she made a bee line for it. I figured that once we got to it, she’d realize just how tall it is and rethink the idea. Nope. She new instantly that she wanted to go down it. In fact, her words were, “I try. I try.“ So we did. Every step of the way I thought she’d shy away, realizing the slide is really made for kids twice her size and age. Nope. We approach the slide. She still doesn’t care just how big it is. I decide to go with her to help her climb up the big ladder. I give her a boost, but after that, she’s climbing by herself. All the way up, she’s saying, “Caroline’s a big girl.“ We climb to the top (again, it’s way up there) and I assume she’s going to get nervous and want to rethink the whole thing. Nope. Instead, she’s clearly thinking about ditching me and going down the slide all by herself. The look on her face says one thing, “FEARLESS.“ Control freak that I am, I snatch her in my arms at the last minute and we zip down the slide together. It was quick, painless, and a little “rush.“ Bottom line—she was confident she could do it, never hesitated, and utilized her strength to experience something brand new. Way to go, my dear, and thank you for taking me on the ride!

I stepped away thinking, “why can’t I be more like my daughter?“ Fearless. That’s my goal, and I encourage all of you, my friends, to add some “fearless” into your recipe for life, and enjoy every moment on the ride.

Ellie

Thanks….I needed that today. I need a boost of “fearless” to keep progressing. I think sometimes we cause ourselves to go slower in our progress just because of our fears.

What a great story!
Most kids are fearless. I know Im amazed at the park when I take the little ones and they decide to take a step off from the top..and thank goodness Im there to catch them! They never even gave it a second though..as my heart is racing!
They giggle..as Im trying to catch my breath.
And they get down and run away like nothing ever happened.

Hi Ellie -

I know exactly what you mean.  We went camping this weekend and Cameron went up to the way top of the playground equipment, went down the “curly slide” all by himself, went to the top and went down the “tall slide” all by himself and all this time I am totally freaking out and he is laughing, smiling and telling me he is going again.  OH - he made me so nervous, but like you said “FEARLESS” is definitely in his vocabulary and he showed that this past weekend.  He was a maniac running all over that playground equipment and then for him to start climbing the rock wall… oh, I thought someone was gonna have to knock me out (lol).  Luckily, he had a great time and I eventually calmed down.  You can check out the pics of him on the equipment on my blog.  He loved it and had so much fun!!

Enjoy your week Ellie - hope to see pics of that sweet girl sometime soon.  I bet she is growing like a weed : )

Hugs,
Lisa

Hmm… at one park we go to, Natalya said “I do it myself” and climbed up and went down the tall slide. Then she climbed up again and got scared the second time around! She also inherited my fear of spiders…!

Whether it’s being fearless or confident or determined, we can learn so much from our children. Way to go Caroline!!

-Kendra
http://www.babybonanza.net