The Fireman's Pole First, Kindergarten Next.

Rachael and I usually go over to the elementary school playground to play because it's closer, but today we went down the hill to the 'big park.' Even though it was a weekday, this place was packed. We went from slide to slide, then over to the swings. She always swings on her belly, so I asked her why. She said she can't go as high if she sits on her butt. I told her I would give her a push if she needed it. She said okay but as soon as I stopped pushing she stopped swinging. I realized that she wasn't pumping. I showed her how and when to pump her legs and at first she just wanted to go back to her belly, but before long she was swinging and pumping and going higher than she had ever gone on her own.

We decided to give someone else a turn on the swings and made our way over to the fireman's pole. She climbed up the stairs and came down the slide. I said," Why didn't you come down the pole?" She said she would get hurt. I asked her what made her think so. She said," That lady over there told that boy not to go down cause he would get hurt." I pointed out the other kids that were going down the pole and not getting hurt and told her I would catch her the first time or two. She climbed up the stairs and stood opposite the pole. I told her to grab the pole first then wrap her legs around and just don't let go. I grabbed her butt as she came flying down the pole. When she hit the ground she started to cry. She said it hurt her hands. I showed her how to put one hand after the other and told her to try again. This time she came down a little slower but with no pain. We were so proud. She couldn't wait to do it again. In fact she did it so many times her legs were getting tired from climbing the steps, so we walked over to a nearby picnic table to take a rest.

As she was playing a game on my iphone I watch 'that lady over there' tell 'that boy' over and over, "Don't do this, don't do that. You're gonna get hurt." How sad is that? I could just imagine this poor child growing up afraid to do anything because he might get hurt.

It's true, he might get hurt. Rachael got hurt too, but with a little instruction and a lot of encouragement she is now able to do things that she was not able to do yesterday. I told her how proud of her I was and I thanked her for trusting me and trying again even though it hurt. She looked up and said," I'm proud of you too for showing me how." We just sat there a few more minutes, out glowing the sun with pride.