My kids push me \u2013 in a good way. Over the years, ‘I\u2019ve tried many new things because of them. Sometimes it\u2019s been something I\u2019ve long wanted to do, other times it\u2019s something they’ve chosen.
A couple years ago, my daughter and I tried stand up paddle boarding. While I did take an unexpected swim in the process of learning, I loved it. We said we would go back, but didn\u2019t have another opportunity until recently when LL Bean offered a free class.
Once we got on the water, a storm blew in, quickly ending the class before I even attempted to get on my feet. I took another class with a friend last week and realized that now, being two years older and more aware of my joints, it was much harder. I paddled while sitting most of the afternoon. My fear of falling had grown.
This past weekend we were offered a make-up class for the one abruptly cut short. I wasn\u2019t sure I wanted to go: it was hot, the lake water was a bit mucky the week before (likely due to storms), and I felt sure it would be another sit down paddle boarding experience. But my daughter wanted to go and I knew she wouldn\u2019t go alone. Plus, I had been looking forward to trying again, and I rarely turn down a chance to be on the water, no matter the vessel.
Early in the class, I managed to get on my feet, for a minute or so, and then feeling unsteady, chose to sit. After beating myself up for being such a chicken, I tried again, and again, and again, each time staying standing longer. (I became very good at quickly dropping down, in a rather noisy, showy fashion.)
While I can\u2019t say I mastered standing on a paddle board, I did conquer the fear. I woke up the next morning wanting to go again \u2013 right away.
I could have skipped the class. My daughter said it was okay if I changed my mind and didn\u2019t want to go anymore. We could have made plans to go another time. BUT I knew we likely wouldn\u2019t, especially if I held onto this fear. I told myself it would be okay if I sat while paddling, and honestly, everyone was okay with that \u2013 everyone but me.
I left the class thanking my daughter, thinking that this was an interesting twist. It reminded me of times my kids discovered they actually enjoyed an activity I planned, one they had begrudgingly gone along with, simply because I asked them to.
I guess I\u2019m at the stage where things start to shift, when the kids gradually become the experts, the planners, the encouragers. It\u2019s a bit surreal, but in some ways, it\u2019s very nice.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
My kids push me \u2013 in a good way. Over the years, ‘I\u2019ve tried many new things because of them. Sometimes it\u2019s been something I\u2019ve long wanted to do, other times it\u2019s something they’ve chosen. A couple years ago, my daughter and I tried stand up paddle boarding. While I did take an unexpected swim in the process of learning, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":255,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[33,32],"class_list":["post-194","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-adult-children","tag-kids-encourage-parent","tag-role-reversal"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/kimberlyyavorski.com\/lifeontheotherside\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2021\/12\/nockamixon.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kimberlyyavorski.com\/lifeontheotherside\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/194","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kimberlyyavorski.com\/lifeontheotherside\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kimberlyyavorski.com\/lifeontheotherside\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kimberlyyavorski.com\/lifeontheotherside\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kimberlyyavorski.com\/lifeontheotherside\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=194"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/kimberlyyavorski.com\/lifeontheotherside\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/194\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":278,"href":"https:\/\/kimberlyyavorski.com\/lifeontheotherside\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/194\/revisions\/278"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kimberlyyavorski.com\/lifeontheotherside\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/255"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kimberlyyavorski.com\/lifeontheotherside\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=194"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kimberlyyavorski.com\/lifeontheotherside\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=194"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kimberlyyavorski.com\/lifeontheotherside\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=194"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}