A Pair of Boots Give One of Life's Important Lessons

Mom Types - Suburban Moms

User Rating: / 2
PoorBest 

Tenacity makes up the greater part of excellence in any skill or ability. Without it, many potentially brilliant and talented people sink into mediocrity. Its therefore important to ensure tenacity and its value is both modelled and supported as children grow.

This can supported with embedded beliefs about commitment; particularly with keeping ones word, promises to others and commitment to a project, cause or team.

Sadly, it is becoming increasingly common for children to enrol in classes or teams and to attend only a handful before refusing to go again. No doubt this is frustrating to the parent who will have confirmed the childs commitment and interest before spending considerable amounts of money in uniforms, registration and attendance fees. Similarly, it can be frustrating after a purchase of a game or item and the child loses interest completely.

Practical Lessons

My seven year old son was desperate to have a pair of side elasticised boots so when it came time to buy a pair of leather shoes he could wear with pants or jeans, we took these into consideration. The boots in question fitted well in the store, so were purchased.

One of lifes lessons started when we went somewhere where it was necessary to put on and remove footwear a number of time during the morning. After short discussion about practicality of wearing his new boots, I allowed my son to make his own footwear choice.

While other participants continued their activities, my son struggled to put boots on. Even with my assistance we kept failing. We tried different ways of putting his foot in, turning the boot and at the point his foot was about to slip inside, he would give up; stop pushing and would tear his boot off; usually with an anguished shout or plea to join the others barefoot.  I insisted he continue until he put his boots on; siting his decision to have the boots on in the first place and his responsibility in keeping to his word.

How many times have we ourselves struggled with something, tried every conceivable option; only to give up?

It was extremely frustrating for me to be part of and to witness my son *nearly* getting his foot into the boot, only to give up micro seconds before success. I could see that with one tiny push and wriggle; his foot  would be in place but regardless of cajoling, threats or encouragement he would pull the boot off and throw it down.

This is the point where 98 percent of potentially brilliant people are. A tiny fraction of the way they have come toward gaining their goal. And then they give up. Just as it was impossible for my son to see how close he was to getting his foot into his boot, its often impossible for us to see just how close we are to achieving our goals; only to give up;  in some cases, micro seconds before getting there.

There is a huge lesson here about the power of consistency and tenacity. Tenacity makes up an enormous amount of the skills required to be excellent or outstanding. Without it, our elite sports people would wallow in bed in the mornings or refuse to push themselves that tiny extra bit.  Without tenacity, our brilliant scientific discoveries would languish in someones notebook or dreams.  Without tenacity we would be living in overpopulated old-world rather than have had our explorers push that little bit more and find new lands.

With a tiny push my son did get his boots on, learning a few valuable lessons along the way. Forward planning, consequence and tenacity pave the path to excellence. No doubt without this physical lesson, it would be difficult to demonstrate it to him otherwise.

Photo of My Sons Boots - from a private unpublished collection.

Annie is a freelance writer and describes herself as a Thaumaturg (what mother isn't?). She is also a teacher and lover of words. Start your adventures into Annies other writing here.

| More...