I kind of envy the child's tenacity. She learns how to do things by watching and trying. When she tries she really does try. She'll spend ages at something she wants to do. Going over it again and again til she gets it. She takes risks I'd not be at all comfortable with. Like climbing stairs. The steps are up to her waist. She lifts a leg to the next step, bending sideways to get her knee high enough to plant solidly on the step. She uses that and the bannister on the opposite side to pull herself up. We have hard wood floors. If she falls, it will hurt. But she tries anyway.
A week ago she climbed up slowly with much grunting. Now she can do 3 steps, one after the other, in under a minute.
I can't remember where I came across this, but I recall scientists saying that children and teenager's brains are hardwired to take risks. That might very well be true, but I think the reason in this case is simpler than that.
Her entire life, all she's known is that whenever she fails and hurts herself, someone quickly scoops her up, cuddles and kisses her. Holding her telling her how good a try she made and how much they love her. With such rewards for failure, I can see why puts so much effort into what she does.
I wish I could find some way for risk taking to be so rewarding.
No comments:
Post a Comment