Lessons on perseverance
For a few different reasons, Cash has only recently started learning how to ride a bike. Our old house had terrible sidewalks, and not very safe streets, and every time we tried it was too frustrating for him to navigate the giant potholes. Our present neighborhood has lovely, newly paved roads to ride, so I bought him a brand new shiny bike last August in hopes we would start riding. We tried it once, but I severely underestimated just how many times it's possible to fall when you hit a bump, and it slightly traumatized him. The bike gathered dust for awhile, and we never really found the time or made the effort to try again.
Recently we've cut TV time, and have started going on walks 3-4 times a week around the neighborhood. One day about two weeks ago, I handed him his helmet and told him I wanted him to give it another try. He was very nervous, but this time I didn't push him at all. We went exactly at whatever pace he felt comfortable with, and I walked alongside him. Every night he gains more confidence, and he even likes to race me down the street now. We are taking it all one step at a time, and it's been so lovely to see him get better and better with every ride.
Then we ran into one of the neighborhood kids. This little boy is probably 4, or a very small 5. He was on a tiny bike without training wheels, and rode circles around us, being friendly and curious. He casually asked Cash, "Why does your bike still have training wheels?" Because of all of the hard work he's put in, and knowing how hard and scary it was for him to try at first, I of course froze. Then I waited to see how it played out. I swear, without missing a beat, Cash laughed and responded, "I know, right, I’m eight! Give me a break kid, I’m an old man just learning to ride a bike here!" I died. It was the most beautiful thing ever.
How many people (myself VERY much included) would have felt shame at the little boy's question, and started to doubt ourselves a little? Maybe I am too old for training wheels. Maybe I'm not good at this. Should I just give up? But not this kid. He laughed at the ridiculousness of it, then kept right on going. When we neared the house, he said, "That actually looked fun, riding without the training wheels. I figure I'm pretty close to ready to take mine off too." You guys, he's been riding for like two weeks, he's so not ready. But he took the whole experience and was encouraged by it. He used it as motivation to keep going, not to give up. It was such an amazing example to me on how to react when people doubt us. I hope to be more like him as I grow up.
