Photo from Unsplash by @medicadetion
My daughter didn’t want to crawl. The pediatrician told me that it was important for babies to crawl. It contributes to their balance, problem solving, and coordination.
But my girl was crawl resistant. She was dead set on going from tummy skydiving position straight to climbing.
I would get down on the floor and crawl. With a bellow of frustration she’d squiggle along the floor like a worm. One day I showed her how to walk with her hands as I scooted her along, holding up her tummy.
When I glanced at her later, she was rocking back and forth on her hands and knees! She took an experimental crawl and then was off like she’d been crawling forever.
She perfected the 40 mph crawl to stand in a 24 hour period. But her real goal was climbing.
At 6 year she climbed every tree she could and had fallen out of a goodly number. By 8 if the limbs weren’t low enough she’d wrap her arms and legs around the tree and pull up to a limb with sheer body strength.
Her legs and arms were permanently scraped, bruised and dirty.
The defining moment of her expertise came when we were at an art fair on the town square.
Suddenly I heard a woman cry, “Oh my goodness, look at that little girl!”
I turned around to find a crowd of people looking up at my daughter the human fly, 14 feet up the side of the limestone courthouse.
I was surprisingly calm as I called out to her, “Honey come on down, it’s time to go home.”
Actually what I wanted to say was, “What the f—!?!? Get the !@##$%&**&()(* down from there before you fall and break every bone in your body!” She carefully picked her way down the wall, dusting off her hands with satisfaction at the bottom.
If I stopped to talk to some friends I’d find her eyeing the building and testing the mortar between the bricks for potential climbing. On a walk she’d assess every building and tree for potential climbing ability. During a summer day camp field trip to a climbing gym, she scampered up and down the wall without a harness before they could even get one on her.
Several years ago she sent me a photo that someone took of her at a climbing wall in NYC where she lives.
She’s in her 30s and hadn’t climbed in years. She said she loved every moment of it but was out of practice. Looking at the photo she sent me I could see those muscles she’d been developing since she was a little kid, firing her up the wall. And it all started by learning to crawl.
It’s all about confidence. And that’s my thing. I work with women and I’ve found that by listening and reflecting what they’ve said back to them confidence starts growing, humor blooms and a shift in perspective happens. So let’s talk. Click here Work with me
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