Hello Everyone,
For the past few weeks my youngest daughter has been taking swimming lessons. She is actually a pretty good swimmer but this week she ran up against an obstacle. Jumping off the edge into the deep end. Clearly, she is quite nervous about this. This past week we were at a pool working on it. I was in the pool, encouraging her and trying different strategies to help her, and she was standing on the edge telling me, “nope”
Afterwards, when we were all calm and relaxed I was asking her what was preventing her from meeting this goal. Finally, she asked me “what if I sink to the bottom?” To her this is a very valid question and it was clearly driving her nervous feelings.
The question reminded me of a book that I stumbled across lately that I wanted to share with you today. The book was really helpful generating a conversation between my daughter and I about her fears.
The What If’s is a wonderful book by Emily Kilgore that speaks to these questions that bring with them doubt and nervous feelings. It also highlights the ‘good what if’s’ that we often don’t recognize or give space for and that help us manage these doubts and nervous feelings.
I hope that you all have a wonderful week and that you find this resource helpful generating conversations with your kids. For me, my daughter is still working on ‘the jump’ but I think we have a few new strategies. Tonight’s book…….
I’m reading “The Way of the Warrior Kid 2” to my son. The key point is “Discipline Equals Freedom”. The stories are well written which dive into bullying and earning through hard work.
I thought I would bring this forward as a suggestion. When I read it, I’m thinking about the areas where I need to up my game with more discipline!