Monday, February 1, 2010

Gotta Know When...

New to the Life is Therapy series? Here's a quick blurb to tell you what it's about:

Sometimes we parents can get bogged down in the notion that the teaching of our children must be done by professionals. Parents of children with special needs are particularly vulnerable to this idea since children with special needs often have to learn and develop quite differently than children with typical needs. This series centers around the idea that learning can and does occur most effectively through everyday life experiences at home and out in the community--for children with both typical and special needs.

Who doesn't get excited when a child surprises you with a new skill? And what kid isn't excited to learn a new skill? Most of the time kids are pretty excited to show off their new skills and we (their parents) are very excited to see them do it and will ask them to do it again repeatedly.


Jack has recently begun jumping with two feet off the ground. He was joyously jumping one evening and I was, of course, excitedly encouraging him. He did this over and over and over again. When suddenly I remembered that I needed to get it on tape so that I would be able to use it on the blog in order to preserve this precious moment for posterity.

When I reviewed the tape, it reminded me of something very important. Sometimes you gotta know when to stop asking for more more more more. Jack WAS having fun jumping and had been having fun jumping. Then I got the camera out and wanted him to perform even MORE so I could show off so all of you could delight in his accomplishments too because I knew that he would enjoy watching himself on video later. But really when the new skill is getting old or your kiddo is just plain old tired, give it a rest. The skill is not going to go away overnight and they'll be much more willing to do a repeat if you don't wear them out. So just remember, if it's not fun anymore and it's just a performance try backing off. You will get to see it again. Just give it a little time.

Jack's still jumping and getting better at it all the time. I'll get more video of it later when he's in a jumping mood!

Recent Life is Therapy Posts can be found at:
Going to the Movies
What Happens at Home
Try Something Old
For more Life is Therapy Posts, check out the left side bar.

Now it's your turn to participate. This is where we share our ideas and stories with one another. We're all in this together. Let's laugh together, motivate one another, and stimulate each others ideas. If you have a blog, create your own "life is therapy" post and link to the specific post in the Mr. Linky below. If you don't have a blog just leave a comment with your life is therapy story.

11 comments:

Melissa aka Equidae said...

what a wonderful accomplishment! Greg started clapping recently and it seems that its all thanks to the children club I am attending weekly ( I never did much to teach it to him) as we clap all the time there and finally he got the hang of it :)

The Blonde Duck said...

He's so precious!

Confessions From A Work-At-Home Mom said...

This is a good lesson! A few weeks ago, my daughter started answering the question, "Who do you love?" with either a resounding MOMMY! or DADDY! We kept pressuring her to repeat it over and over, and now, she won't do it anymore. And I think I know why.

Thanks for the visit today! Hope you come back soon :)

~Elizabeth
Confessions From A Working Mom

Rachel said...

How exciting! Ali was SO pumped when she learned how to jump too - she had been desperately trying to emulate AJ for weeks, and it finally worked!

Maria - Ira's mum said...

He's just so darned cute Marie- love seeing the video's. Hopefully one day we'll get to meet.

Good lesson in this post!
x Maria (Ira's mum)

mommytoalot said...

Awww what a darling. It's so true though. Let them get a wee break and they will continue to do the skill. Great milestone there Jack
xxoo

Momisodes said...

That is wonderful! I'm so glad you were able to capture the moment, even if it was toward the end.

Marie said...

Thanks everyone! We've been using the jumping to get him moving in the direction we want him to go too! It's so much more fun to get somewhere when you jump there!

Marie said...

Maria--I'd love to meet you guys in real life someday! Ira and Edie are both so very cute!

j said...

That will open up some fun games for him! I'm sure there are some cute kid songs about jumping that would add to his delight.

Yay Jack!

sheila said...

Oh-tay, lol What a hoot!

And yeah, isn't it funny how 'just when' you run for the camera...they're just about done? lol