Practice Falling Down

My youngest daughter, who is 10, was asked to go to roller skating lessons with her friend a few months back. She really enjoyed it, so she stuck with it.  A couple months ago my middle daughter, 13, asked to join her.  She took to the skates like fish to water.  She was hooked.  She saved up her babysitting money in order to pay for half of her own pair of skates.  She chose a pair that was a little nicer than basic, but not so nice to break the bank. (Competitive roller skates can run upwards of $1000.)  She then also bought a pair of used skates, fully at her own expense, to practice at home with.

My youngest daughter, though she enjoys skating does not take to it with the same exuberance or natural athletic ability.  This has been hard for her.  Currently she has decided she doesn't want to go for now, at least not until she gets new skates. Her skates seem to pull and they can't fix them from doing that.  Now whether that pull is her skates or her feet I am not sure. I offered to rent skates until new ones can be purchased, but that won't cut it for her.  

The rink where they skate has a Club feature, for $60 a month you can have unlimited access to the rink when it is open, you get Saturday morning group lessons, and you get access to the rink during club skate times.  Along with this you get a private lesson once a week with a separate fee for the instructor.  All together it comes out to around $120 a month with a 1 year commitment (or until we move).  Kalen was super excited about all the skate times she could use as our house has limited skating room.  The deal was that she had to pay for half of it same as with the skates.  She was willing and excited to do it.

Today is her first private lesson and of being a part of the club.  

Watching the group lessons I noticed something interesting. The instructors have the children practice falling down.  The reason for this is three fold: first, so that they learn the safest possible way to fall to limit injuries; secondly, so that they learn how to get up; and thirdly to take the fear out of falling, because falls are inevitable.

They practice falling down.

That just resonates in my soul.  

Practice falling down 

The practice takes the shame and the fear out of the falling.

Falls in life are inevitable, but what if we could practice falling down in a way that is safe and shameless?  

What if we were taught how to minimize the impact of our falls and then the best way to get back up from them?

What would that look like worked out in my own life, in my children's lives, in all of our lives?  I don't really know, but it is worth thinking about.