A year has finally passed, and the scars of last years efforts have faded for both the parent and the child. I grew up with a love of all things sport, and excelled at most things I turned a hand, foot or stick towards. The most frustrating thing is that I know that Maddison has an athletic ability inside, I have seen it. She ran four laps of the school oval, just so she could keep the principal company, and chat to him along the way.
Last year the worry monster appeared as we were called to head to the start line, by the time we lined up the tears were pouring, and when the gun went off so did all the girls....except mine. I was really annoyed at all the efforts I had put in to trying to encourage Maddison to just take a start. I headed off to the very long parental coffee line, just to calm down and avoid showing my disappointment. I don't need for the child to win, but I do need for her to just try.
Our academic development program also consists of activities that encourage confidence building, and I have been super impressed by our progress this year. But when the athletics carnival rolled around, I think both of us were worried about how it was going to go. We discussed it together for weeks and I think I had managed to convince her that just taking part was all that was required.
This year I stayed at the other end of the track and let her line up all by herself. The hangs were wrung and there was much glancing from side to side. I could feel the tension from 80 metres away, and with the zoom on was reading the frantic moments of indecision about this sprint thing.
...that's right girls, I appear to be a few metres in front here. From here on the pace built and the youngster who was afraid of taking out of the blocks had actually managed to have a moment of.....
...extreme pride from the both of us. We celebrated with some home made cookies, enough for the best friend as well. The rest of the carnival was easy after our first race efforts, and out team managed to win the relay as well, even with a smile during the race.
There was a fair amount of cheating in the skipping contest, and much hilarity from me when I asked how many jumps she had done to get 4th place. I am certainly proud of her negotiation skills, especially when I made her count again on the iPhone movie. Of course this 11 was met with 'that is so not me!'
Just to ensure that there was ample positive reinforcement, we headed out for super big sundaes and a pick of choice at the toy store. First in the swimming carnival and the athletics carnival, whooo!
Last year the worry monster appeared as we were called to head to the start line, by the time we lined up the tears were pouring, and when the gun went off so did all the girls....except mine. I was really annoyed at all the efforts I had put in to trying to encourage Maddison to just take a start. I headed off to the very long parental coffee line, just to calm down and avoid showing my disappointment. I don't need for the child to win, but I do need for her to just try.
Our academic development program also consists of activities that encourage confidence building, and I have been super impressed by our progress this year. But when the athletics carnival rolled around, I think both of us were worried about how it was going to go. We discussed it together for weeks and I think I had managed to convince her that just taking part was all that was required.
This year I stayed at the other end of the track and let her line up all by herself. The hangs were wrung and there was much glancing from side to side. I could feel the tension from 80 metres away, and with the zoom on was reading the frantic moments of indecision about this sprint thing.
After the first ten metres was out of the way, something finally clicked in the little mind......
...that's right girls, I appear to be a few metres in front here. From here on the pace built and the youngster who was afraid of taking out of the blocks had actually managed to have a moment of.....
There was a fair amount of cheating in the skipping contest, and much hilarity from me when I asked how many jumps she had done to get 4th place. I am certainly proud of her negotiation skills, especially when I made her count again on the iPhone movie. Of course this 11 was met with 'that is so not me!'
Just to ensure that there was ample positive reinforcement, we headed out for super big sundaes and a pick of choice at the toy store. First in the swimming carnival and the athletics carnival, whooo!
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