Face your fears!

Yesterday was a really fun day. The hubby had the day off work (thank you 4-day weekend!!) and so his sister decided to come play with us for the day. We went up to Big Bear and did the Alpine slide they have there.

Now, let me fill you in on a little backstory here. When E was about 2, he was a daredevil. He loved going to Legoland and would ride all the roller coasters with me, no problem. He’d go up in the rising helicopters and ride the dinosaur roller coaster when others were afraid. This kid was fearless.

Fast forward 6 months to our visit to Utah for a family wedding. We went to Park City to go on the Alpine slide and E was a little nervous. I assured him it would be lots of fun and that we’d go slow. (I think he was more scared of the ski lift than the actual slide.) So we went up the chair lift, with him scared the whole time, but okay. Then we went on the slide, and he cried just about the entire time down the mountain. I even went slow! But he just wasn’t loving it and I was kind of sad for him.

So what does a good mom do? She makes him go again, of course! Face your fears, I always say.

Well, I think that did him in. He screamed the whole way down, and when we went home to California, he no longer wanted anything to do with amusement park rides, carousels, even those dumb 25-cent horsey rides outside the grocery store!

So yes, I completely traumatized my 2-year-old. Bad mom.

So yesterday, when we went to Big Bear to try this again, he wasn’t excited. He asked us before we got there, “How big is it?” And of course we told him, “It’s really small!”

Bad mom.

Then we got there and he saw how big it was. He didn’t want to do it. Aunt Janae and I went down first to show him how fun it would be. He didn’t want to do it. We promised him he could have some candy if he went down. He didn’t want to do it. I told him I’d hold him the whole time and go really slow and he’d be completely safe with me. He didn’t want to do it.

So we pulled out the big guns. We told him we’d get him a Pillow Pet if he went down. I tell you what, he really thought about it that time! But he still didn’t want to do it.

This is him holding on for dear life to the pole by the entrance. He really didn’t want to go.

So what does a good mom do? She makes him go, crying on the way to the chair lift. Face your fears, I always say.

And what happened this time? Half-way up the mountain, he turns to me (while holding on desperately to my shirt) and says, “Hey Mom, this is really fun!” And I say, “Of course it is, I told you it would be.”

 

So we went down the mountain and the first thing he said when we got to the end was, “Mom! I did it!”

Good mom? :)

If only he would have been able to convey his excitement in this family photo. But alas, he and W both hate my camera, no matter how infrequently it appears these days. :)