Have a Go

The first principle outlined in HAPPY Parenting is called Have a Go. Basically, it means that we have to give our children the right mixture of support and challenges when introducing them to new activities. I also wrote another post about the idea of helping your child to try new things explaining the concept of Zone of Proximal Development.

Our daughter is not a risk taker, so we have to work pretty hard to convince her try things outside of her comfort zone. It took quite some time to get her to swing on her own. Her father did a good job breaking this task into components and explaining her how to pump her legs and to "listen" to the swing direction. He also praised her lavishly every time when she as much as tried to swing a little without his pushing. Finally, all these pieces "clicked", and now she is able to swing without help. Our next challenge is a tricycle :)