Staring down fear

Both of our poppets took a big step today.

First off, Soph. We went to a real estate open house on Saturday (no, we are not going to move). She touched something and cried. We pounced on her for touching something and then forgot about it. Turned out that it was a splinter. Not something that bothered her during her Sunday ski but by this morning, it was painful and 1/2 surrounded by pus. Our youngster bravely stuck her finger out for the pin prick and tweezer tug and for the pus-riddance maneouvre (Seb was pretty 'grossed out' by this description). Don't get me wrong, she cried both vocally and tearfully. But she never pulled back or yelled 'stop/no'! She took the gain that came from the pain. Brave lass.

Seb meanwhile has graduated to the next level of swimming. It's in the deep end of the Y pool and definitely harder and more tiring. He's the youngest (7-10 year olds). The first week, we congratulated him and he seemed pleased. Last week, Carrie reported that he didn't want to go as his tummy hurt. This week, he mentioned not wanting to swim when he got off the school bus. Something was up.

I found him curled up in his bed. After establishing that he wasn't sick and informing him that I was pulling him from school tomorrow morning to go to a Black History concert with his buddy Jack, he told me that he didn't like the deep end. Ah, he had named the problem.

We brainstormed what we could do and decided to talk to the instructor together. Sure enough, young strapping John understood that one might be apprehensive about deep water and let him know he could take a break anytime and that he himself would modify some of the exercises so that Seb could keep up. He sailed through the lesson, giving it his all, even being a solid water polo goalie.

1) identify and articulate problem 2) brainstorm solutions and who can make them happen 3) inform that person that the status quo is not working for you and offer solutions. Bingo! Let's hope we have made a breakthrough.