Yesterday, I took my daughter on a walk in our neighborhood. We actually have a nice neighborhood with a walking path & man-made lake and stream. There were ducks everywhere.
We walked until the path ended at the neighborhood playground. Nothing spectacular about this playground.
Just 4 swings two climbing areas with slides and – a set of monkey bars. The big shadow is me – ha!
I loved monkey bars when I was a kid. I even loved that little round metal bar shaped like a rectangle and drilled directly into the ground. I would balance on that thing on my butt and then swing backwards with the back of my knees hugging the bar – around and around. Some kids would even tie their sweaters around their waste and to the bar to swing around without the aid of your knees.
Back to the monkey bars.
At my school in Scottsdale, AZ, we had a nice jungle gym, swing monkey bar play area. We had a set of monkey bars connected to the slide as well as metal rings that faced the monkey bars. I would swing on the rings, just until I got the right height and momentum and let go to fly over to the monkey bars, catch it and monkey my way to the end and repeat. I was fearless and not afraid to try anything.
Yesterday at the park, my daughter wanted to try the monkey bars. Now she’s nine so, I thought monkey bars would be easy. She couldn’t even swing. She tried twice more than gave up – all the while complaining and whining about it.
I was dumbfounded. She’s nine and was afraid to try the monkey bars. She was scared. It made me realize how sheltered and out of shape she is. For 6 years of her life we lived in a one bedroom duplex. This place was smaller than my current master bedroom/bath and closet put together. We slept on a sofa bed for 6 years. I rarely let her go outside because of the neighborhood we lived in. I mean, our neighbors were gangbangers and THEY watched out for us. I was always too tired to take her to the park because I worked full time and went to school full time – trying to make a life for her.
This is the result. She is afraid to try and quick to give up. I don’t understand. I am not that way. I pushed and pushed while I was pregnant with her and after to..……or maybe I really “didn't”. I just never realized it and it has rubbed off on her. That makes me sick to my stomach. It also makes me want to get rid of a lot of stuff in our lives that are not enriching it. That’s hard to do when you’re married to “The Resistance”.
I got up to exercise today after sitting on my bed for 45 minutes crying about Aiden and feeling just blah. I finally got up and decided to exercise. I invited my daughter to join me. It was a mess. I couldn’t even exercise for her whining and complaining. What they heck is going on??? Did I raise my daughter up to this point to whine and complain. NO SIR I DIDN’T. So now I am perplexed on how to get her out of this….funk. Any ideas??? Anyone?
