The weekend bought about the first bit of sunshine since before the winter. It is amazing how much it can change your state of mind. Wanting to make the most of this we decided to take the kids out to Alice Holt (a local Forrest trail). We took Summers newish bike as we thought it could be fun to try to teach her to ride without stabilisers.
Picture a typical 2.4 family, mum pushing baby in the pushchair smiling with pride as she shows off her wonderful family to the world, taking in the crisp fresh air and beautiful surroundings. Dad holding the back of the little girls bike seat running alongside her shouting encouragement. The little girl grinning with pride as her confidence slowly builds to the point where dad lets go and the girl peddles away unaware that dad has let go, she notices and starts shouting with joy that she is "doing it"!
Although this scene played in my head on the car journey to our destination it is a far cry from the reality.
The true image was that of baby Dexter crying due to the cold and me constantly trying to keep the fidgety child wrapped up warm and stopping every few minutes to pick up the, now not so white, blanket from the muddy wet ground. Daddy and Summer screaming at each other as he is "just not doing it right" and then massive tantrums when he rides off on her little pink bike as he has had enough. Summer, it seems, has absolutely no confidence on her bike and daddy has absolutely no patience to wait for the confidence to come so kept letting go resulting in summer screaming, crying and the bike turning over in the mud which caused more upset to my OCD clean child.
After no more than 20 minutes of this I made the decision this wasn't working and we should go to the on site park instead. Finally we had smiles all round as Summer walked along the wooden beams and climbed the pirate ship and Dexter went on the swings for the first time with huge giggles of excitement. This was more like it!
Topped off with dinner at a restaurant and it was a perfect day - well perfect for us anyway!
Picture a typical 2.4 family, mum pushing baby in the pushchair smiling with pride as she shows off her wonderful family to the world, taking in the crisp fresh air and beautiful surroundings. Dad holding the back of the little girls bike seat running alongside her shouting encouragement. The little girl grinning with pride as her confidence slowly builds to the point where dad lets go and the girl peddles away unaware that dad has let go, she notices and starts shouting with joy that she is "doing it"!
Although this scene played in my head on the car journey to our destination it is a far cry from the reality.
The true image was that of baby Dexter crying due to the cold and me constantly trying to keep the fidgety child wrapped up warm and stopping every few minutes to pick up the, now not so white, blanket from the muddy wet ground. Daddy and Summer screaming at each other as he is "just not doing it right" and then massive tantrums when he rides off on her little pink bike as he has had enough. Summer, it seems, has absolutely no confidence on her bike and daddy has absolutely no patience to wait for the confidence to come so kept letting go resulting in summer screaming, crying and the bike turning over in the mud which caused more upset to my OCD clean child.
After no more than 20 minutes of this I made the decision this wasn't working and we should go to the on site park instead. Finally we had smiles all round as Summer walked along the wooden beams and climbed the pirate ship and Dexter went on the swings for the first time with huge giggles of excitement. This was more like it!
Topped off with dinner at a restaurant and it was a perfect day - well perfect for us anyway!
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