Try Something New

Today I tried something new. This is big news because in my day-to-day life, if I'm honest with myself, there's not too much new stuff going on. But today was different and it felt exhilarating to do something that I've never done before.

Friends of ours bought a Stand Up Paddleboard (yes, it has an acronym: SUP) a few weeks ago. Unfortunately the 11+ft board did not fit up the stairs or elevator to their apartment, so they've been storing it in our backyard. Today, all of us went to White Rock beach to go "SUPing." The couple who own the SUP are pretty good at it (he's a surfer so it comes naturally), but my husband and I had never tried it before. So Steve goes out first and has a hard time staying upright on the board. It looks really shaky and slippery, and not all that stable.

Then it was my turn. I felt apprehensive because I don't naturally have great balance and I really didn't want to get wet and if Steve had a hard time, I would have an even harder time. Anyhow, I get a 3-minute tutorial on how to keep my balance and am advised to start by kneeling on the board. So out I go, knowing that I would last exactly 17 seconds on this board and then end up dragging it back to shore.

Well, I started on my knees and did OK. "Hmm," I thought, "I can do this. I'll just stay on my knees." So I'm paddling on my knees for a while, and then I think, "What the heck, I'll try to stand up." Then, to my surprise, I stay standing. So now I'm standing and paddling (this is what you are supposed to do) and I'm feeling mildly confident. I do end up falling in eventually, but I had a really good run at it. After taking my dip in the Pacific Ocean, I climb back on the board and continue to paddle up and down the beach. I'm actually gone for quite a while so that Steve comes the shore to check on me, gives me a wave, and heads back to the kids and the beach blanket.


No, this isn't me -- just some random online image. But this is what I'd like to think I looked like (minus the sun visor and rainbow, of course!).

Anyhow, it felt really good to overcome my reluctance and try something new today. As we get older, it's not often that we challenge ourselves and I was really surprised to find that I was good at something new. But I think that even if I wasn't good at it, I would have been proud of myself for taking up the opportunity to have new experience. Today reminded me that it's a big world out there and sometimes we get too comfortable with what we know and do.

When was the last time you tried something new?

A Gr8t Mother's Day

Today was an awesome day!

It started off with a cup of tea and three hand-made Mother's Day cards from my kids. I also got a macaroni necklace (thanks Jack), a big hug (thanks Charlotta), a Kindergarten-made baby-food jar full of bath salts (thanks Ashley - although I don't know if I'll get around to having a bath in this decade) and a beautiful bouquet of flowers (thanks Steve).

I then wolfed down a bowl of porridge, donned my running gear and went to join 50,000 other Vancouverites for the 10K Vancouver Sun Run. The weather was great, my friend and I got an awesome parking spot (always important!) and we had a great run. Another member of my running group had sent an email out a few days ago with a some last-minute tips and one of them -- which I took to heart -- was hydrate, hydrate, hydrate. And although I was up at least twice a night to go to the bathroom for the past few nights, it really paid off today when I felt like a million bucks after the race and for the rest of the day. I never new what a friend I had in water!

I wanted to share a cute thing that happened as we were waiting at the start line. It's wall-to-wall people, so you can over hear everyone's conversation (but that's just an excuse, because I'm really not above eavesdropping). Anyhow, there were these two 14-year-old boys in front of us, who came to downtown Vancouver on the bus/SkyTrain. It's now 9:10 am and one boy looks at his transit ticket and says to his friend, "Hey, if we finish the race by 9:45 we can use this ticket to go home again!' To put this into perspective, the Olympic-caliber winner of the Sun Run completed the run in about 30 minutes, so it was highly unlikely that these boys would finish in 35 minutes, but I just loved their optimism and resourcefulness.

The other thing I remember about the run was at about kilometre 8.5, I saw someone holding a pink sign that said "Go, Mom, Go!" and I took it personally.

In the afternoon, my Mom came over to our house and we ate Strawberry Shortcake and drank coffee on the patio while the kids played (and fought -- I didn't say it was perfect) in the backyard. Oh, and did I mention that the weather was actually warm and sunny for the first time this Spring in Vancouver?

Here's hoping I don't have too many aching muscles tomorrow. Water, do your magic...

This is going to hurt me more than it hurts you

This is the phrase that came to mind this past weekend as we were forced to discipline our 4-year-old son. I say forced, but what I really mean is that we had to make good on a promise if we were ever to have any disciplinary credibility with our kids.

Here's what happened: A week ago Thursday, my husband got the talk of shame from our daycare. Jack had been hitting other kids when he got angry and even (gasp) bit a child. It didn't come as a total surprise, as he had had violent outbursts against his sisters at home, but we just chalked that up to family dynamics and sibling rivalry. Now, after the warning from daycare, we were mortified into action.

First came THE TALK (violence is bad, use your words instead), which wasn't as effective as we had hoped. Then came the threats of punishment, I mean logical consequences. We told our little man several (read: 235,989) times in the previous week that he if did not behave (read: stop hitting other kids) he would miss his hockey lessons on Saturday. It was going OK for a few days, then he hit Ashley's little friend on Friday. Goodbye Saturday morning hockey lessons.

The hard thing for Jack was that he wasn't just not going to his hockey lesson, he had to come along and watch Ashley play hockey as they are in the same Little Gretzky's class. Cruel, I know. He took it surprisingly well, and we used each opportunity as he was staring longingly at the ice as a "teaching moment."

Was it an effective way to discipline him? What were our options? It would have been unbelievably hypocritical of us to spank him for hitting other kids. Timeouts seem too light-weight for doing something as major has hitting or biting another child. I think our only choice was to warn him of the consequences if he did this bad thing again and then -- this is key -- to follow through with our promise. I think it hurt us more than it hurt him.

The whole issue of disciplining or guiding our children has been one of the most challenging and unsure areas in our parenting experience so far. It makes think back to my own childhood and try to remember what forms of punishment or discipline actually helped me learn a lesson and which just made me hate my parents more (sorry Mom if you're reading this, but we're all good now, right?).

Anyhow, the most depressing part of this weekend's tough love experience is that we're only just dipping our toes into the ocean of teaching our kids the lessons of life. Can't wait til they're teenagers!