I learned that sometimes you have to just let your kid figure it out on their own. My 4 year old, Rory, has been taking ice skating lessons. It's been tough for him. It's been tough for me too! I have skated (at a morbidly average level, but still) for most of my life. So when Rory is out there getting a lesson I feel the urge to push him, encourage him, lecture him when he's not listening to his teacher... helicopter. There I said it.
This past weekend though, on the advice of another parent, I decided to disappear when he went out on the ice. He couldn't see me but I could see him. It was funny the first time he looked for me behind the glass and wasn't there. He kind of had this look like, "where the heck did he go?" No freak outs though, he just continued on. Well, sort of... I decided to live tweet the experience.
Sometimes the best thing you can do is let go, even at 4. It's not just me either, it's all the parents there. The guy who gave me the advice to disappear said he had a tough time doing it too, but it's what's best. I agree (in this case anyway).
Parents, it's perfectly natural to not want to let go and not want to let your kid struggle, but that struggle is what makes them into who they become. Plus, we have to let the teacher's teach. There's a reason they are the teachers and we aren't. Letting them do their job made a HUGE difference.
So it wasn't just my kid who learned something, it was me too.
Check it out, he got brave!
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