Friday, April 19, 2013

Pushing Him out of His Comfort Zone

I love my son.  Shocking right!!!!  I was contemplating my love for Ethan today during his gymnastics class with Hannah.  It is their second class and they are really enjoying it.  Actually, Hannah LOVES it.  Ethan likes it by the end of the class.  Hannah is a natural born bouncer so it's no surprise that she has taken to so quickly.  Ethan not so much, or at least not as much.  The class is structured so that the first part is warm up and stretching.  Then the older kids are split from the younger kids and each group has their own coach/teacher that leads them through a series of activities.  Ethan is the youngest of the younger group and has not quite figured out how things work.  He spends the first 15 minutes with his little lip out asking me if it's time to go him home.  It breaks my heart.  I can see the fear in his face and the insecurity at doing some so foreign and not quite understanding what his teacher is saying.  It doesn't seem to matter that Hannah is right beside him and I am only a few steps behind him.

It's pretty hard to resist that face with crinkled forehead and the pulled up lip.

As the class progresses, I walk along side of him while he walks on the balance beams and climbs and jumps.  He enjoys it but wants me to be right there with him.    I pull back ever so slowly allowing him to find his bearings.  He figures it out but it's a bit of a struggle.  I understand because I also get that feeling that bubbles up and tries to talk you out of doing something new, something scary.  But I also know the joy of accomplishment that comes from pushing through it.

So anyway, I was thinking about how much I love him.  I don't wish that he was different.  I love him for who he is and who he is growing up to be.  But I also love him enough to give him the extra push he needs.  By the end of the class I was standing quite a distance off.  He could see me but he needed to rely on the coach for help.  And he had fun.  I watched him bounce backwards down the long trampoline and he had a big grin on his face.

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