Not Too Risky

"And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom."  -Anais Nin

My little duckling, bless her heart, is pretty risk-averse.  We have not, in our three years together, had to make any trips to the ER, say, for any injuries sustained while doing back-flips off the kitchen table.  She is just not that kind of kid, and most of the time, I'm very grateful for that.

But it also means that when we go somewhere new, to try something new, I suddenly have a Klingon on my hands.  And I mean that in a punny sense, not in an ethnic comparison kind of way.

Yesterday I took Maeve bowling for the first time.  This place we went does $2 games and free shoe rental for the preschool-aged crowd, so I figured even if she hated it, we'd only be out two dollars, and I can live with that.  When we arrived, after some initial clinging, she noticed the Foosball table and decided to play with that for awhile.  But once our friends arrived and we started to actually do some bowling, she informed me she was ready to go home.

In these situations, my tendency is to pressure her just a little, to stay and try something before we give up on it completely.  I want her to stick her toe in the water, basically.  I don't throw her in, I'm not a sink or swim kind of parent, but I want her to know what the water feels like.  So I had her watch the other kids, and then her turn was last.

So I literally had to carry her up to the bowling ball ramp, but once she really realized all she had to do was let the ball go and watch it knock over pins, she totally liked it.  I mean, was anxiously waiting for her turn to roll around so she could do it again.  And in those moments, I feel pretty vindicated.  We only managed it for about 40 minutes before Maeve decided it really was time to go home, but I'm still so proud of her.  I think she heard me tell her that about fifty times yesterday, but I do love it when she nerves herself up to try something new and then likes it.  It gives me hope that she will continue expanding her horizons, even if I have to be there to push her into it a little, at least for the next ten years or so.