Skating and Power Outages

We went out skating last night after dinner. We went to a local arena for their Friday night public skate and met some friend for a fun family night.

It was so much fun, and cheap too.

In my previous post, I was telling you about how S was just rarin' to go, and telling me that he didn't need any help. He's four. R has been really excited about the idea of skating as well, and I've been telling her that she might fall and that's ok. She is usually painfully cautious. She takes her time with EVERYTHING. She didn't learn to ride a bike until last year. She's almost 7.

Well, talk about a role reversal once we got on the ice.

S was the one that took one slippy step and insisted on going home RIGHT now. R held onto the wall until she got to one of those frame things that slide across the ice, and then she was GONE. She kept falling and getting up again and going faster and faster. Eventually she tried skating without the frame and when she fell she didn't get upset at all.

I can't tell you how out of character this is for R. Or for S. But, instead of reacting the way I usually do, that is to push R into something before it is her idea, and letting S decide when to do something new, I remembered what I've been reading about in these books.

Skating was R's idea. She has been talking about it for a few weeks now because her class is going to be skating at the outdoor rink in the school yard once a week until March Break. She has been really excited and talking about what kind of skates she'll have and how she'll do tricks on the ice and play hockey and go really fast. She is ready and prepared mentally for taking on this new challenge.

S has been excited as well and is imitating his older sister by talking about he'll have boy skates and score goals and go faster than anyone else. He is completely sure of his ability to master this new skill with very little effort.

Well, R has really benefited from my encouragement but also from my not pushing her before she feels she is ready. And when we got to the rink, I could see that S was going to benefit from my pushing him to keep going even though he wanted to go home.

Boys and girls are so different! I am just loving this adventure parenting a boy and a girl.