Day 2: The Learning Process

I did not plan on posting at the very end of the day. It took most of the day to choose a topic. On Day 2. My normal reactions would be 1) to call myself a failure, 2) to get frustrated for taking on too difficult of a challenge once again, and 3) call myself selfish for not meeting artifical, Instagram-worthy standards of exuberant gratitude, joy, and quoteworthiness. How dare you feel negative feelings, you bitch! The world expects you to be a humble servant robot, not a bold, honest human. 

Those of you who have read Burnout may recognize this as my Madwoman struggling with Human Giver Syndrome. 

Fortunately, I didn't do that this time. This week reminded me that learning new skills can be painful, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't try. 

My son has finally mostly gotten the hang of jump roping. On the afternoon of New Years Eve, he tripped on the rope and faceplanted hard, biting his lip on the impact. We spent the rest of afternoon at the urgent care and the dentist making sure everything was ok. My son's dentist (who is awesome and a mom of two little ones) reassured me that not only are injuries like this common for kids, but they also heal quite quickly. It's so hard as a parent to watch your child be in pain. Some days I feel like I need to suit him in bubble wrap. But if I cushion all of his falls, he will never learn to do it gracefully. I will still encourage him to walk with purpose through life rather than parkour wildly across it. Ultimately, the choice is his to make. 

I understand that some days during this challenge I will fall. I will have days that I rush through, days when I take things for granted because I just need to get through it, days when my stress and I shut ourselves off from others so we don't lash out at anyone. On those days I might write shitty, contrived posts because gratitude isn't the sentiment at the front of my mind. Those days will be ok. I'm learning, aren't I? My ego is going to have a fat lip and will need to a humble soup diet sometimes. It will heal. Our children learn from our actions much more than they do from our words. If I want my child to embrace mistakes and failures and falls as learning experiences, then I must show him what that looks like. 

My son was excited to jump rope again the next day. So what happens? He times his jump poorly and lands on the rope. The handle flies out of his hand and smacks him near his eye. He's fine, but we've put the jump rope away, just for a little while. Breaks are healthy, too. 

That said, if I need a break, I will take one and make it up the next day. 

I still feel awful that my kid got hurt, but I am thankful that we both learned more about how to learn.