About a year ago I purchased a kayak, one large enough and
sturdy enough to use on larger lakes and rivers. I have become accustom to its handling on the water and feel
very comfortable and safe in the changeable weather conditions. I have not (as
of yet) filled the kayak with excessive amounts of water nor tipped out in any
depth of water. With the weather
and water being so warm of late I decided that it might be a good time to
practice remounting the kayak from deep water.
This past week, my husband and I were out on a nearby lake
that had a sandbar about 200 yards off shore. This sandbar also happened to be the gathering spot for
other motorized boats and swimmers (people we knew). So, we decided to paddle
out to visit with some of our friends.
We tied our kayaks off on one of the other boats and swam and
visited. When it was time to leave
and since we were already in the water we decided to practice getting in our
kayaks from the water (neck deep water-over our heads).
We told our friends we were going to do this and no (thank
you) we didn’t want help. As our
friends watched our attempts to get in the kayaks from the water I could see
their discomfort grow. After the
first couple of failed attempts they asked “do you want us to hold them for
you?” I replied “no, that this was part of practicing getting back in”. They continued to watch and I watched
them. Their discomfort with our
failed attempts was growing with each attempt. They began to offer suggestions and again offered to hold
the kayaks for us.
On several occasions I was so close to getting in and at the
last moment I would over adjust and go over the top and into the water
again. I was actually having fun
with this practice and was OK with my errors. I was tweaking my technique and knew that I would get back
in some how. My husband was the
first to get back in his kayak and I followed shortly after. We got a standing ovation from our
friends in the boat and it felt really good to be successful and to have their
support.
As we paddled away I thought about how we as parents do this
with our children. We want them to
be successful and not to have to struggle or experience possible embarrassment.
What we need to remember is that the practice can be fun and if it is fun they
will continue to practice until they get it right or at least to a level of
performance that they are comfortable with. If we take away the struggle, we also take away their victory.
It would have been so easy to give in just to alleviate
their discomfort of not being able to help.
