Determination

Let me tell you about my amazing little girl.....


Last year she was in Kindergarten and came home from school declaring that in 1st grade she was going to be in the Talent Show as a jump roper. She had never, never, never jumped rope before. I wish that I could tell you that I encouraged her and supported her right away, but that's not quite what happened. She was focused on a goal and I was focused on not letting her feel failure. 


Over the past year, she has jumped roped nearly every single day and would remind me, "In 1st grade I am going to jump rope in the talent show". I'd respond with..."Honey, you have to be really good to be in the show" or "Sugar Plum, not everyone gets picked" or "Baby cakes, jumping rope is really hard". 


Talent show tryouts were this week. She has been jumping A LOT lately and over the past few months has gotten pretty good. She can jump fast, on one foot, backwards, and even do this thing that looks like a rodeo clown trick. We allowed her to try out, but I cautioned her that she might not make it, but that I was proud of her for trying out. (Another bad mommy move) She tried out and she made it! She was so brave to get up there and jump rope in front of the judges (her teachers) and she will be in the talent show next week as a 1st grade jump roper. 


Why didn't I encourage her early on? I think it's because I didn't want her to fail. I didn't want her to be embarrassed in front of her friends. I didn't want her to be disappointed. I want her to feel amazing, secure, supported; life doesn't always work that way. There are times (like my 5 miles today) where things are hard, but you still have to do them. There will be math problems that she doesn't understand. She needs to fail to learn how amazing success feels. 


I could not be prouder of her. She's got what it takes to be amazing in life! She sets goals and follows through. I've been thinking about her on my runs this week. My runs don't always go as planned, but I have a goal in sight and I am going to practice, practice, and practice until I meet my goal. She has determination. Learning to jump rope wasn't easy, but she did it! Congratulations, Baby girl!




~Kari