As I traveled to work yesterday, I came upon a man who was teaching his child how to ride a bicycle. With his one hand he grabbed the seat, and the bike leaned at an angle to the left as his son made his way down the street leaning heavily upon the training wheels as the little boy tried his hardest to upright his ride. I’m sure within the next few weeks he will be enjoying his new right-of-passage around the neighborhood and the training wheels will be removed.
When our children are young and they become diagnosed; clearly we, as parents, once again teach them the way to stay upright. We become their training wheels for which to lean heavily as they attempt to get it right. The reason that the man could teach his child is because, I’m sure, he too had to learn how to ride a bicycle. Hard to teach something unless you’ve done it…..right? Downright almost impossible, how can you teach something unless you know from experience?
By now you know where I am going with this I’m sure.
What you have done since diagnosis is amazing. Not only did you teach your child, you had to teach yourself. And YOU HADE NO ONE to lean on as heavily as your child needs to lean on you. You had to get your self up to speed pretty quickly. And you did. Now at this for over 22+ years, admitting doing very little for my kids at this point, I still wonder whether it will ever be done…..right. Buy I know they surely know so much more than when we started. That’s our goal isn’t it?
Take a look back today and realize that your child is doing as well as they are because of you. Your knowledge, sweat, and tears have got them to the point where they are upright on their own, or will be soon. You did that! You were their training wheels for them to lean on as they learned…..and as it goes on a bicycle, there will always be new roads to explore. Think about it.
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