Yesterday was a rite of passage for my daughter and me. In an impromptu decision, we jumped on the motorcycle and headed to Silver Dollar City. It was her first real bike ride, beyond the training-wheel trips to the video store or school.
She loved the ride and wasn’t scared at all. She was so unconcerned for her safety that she fell asleep on the way back home. I realized she stopped moving back there and so I asked how she was doing. I knew what was happening when she didn’t respond. My Dad rode up beside me and confirmed her little snooze. We took the next exit and got her a bottle of cold milk at the convenience store. That did the trick and we made the rest of the trip with eyes wide open.
Silver Dollar City wasn’t that great. It took us two hours to get there from Springfield and that was using the High Road (Highway 476). Mostly the day was spent waiting in lines. Waiting to get there. Waiting an hour to eat. Waiting in line for rides, although those lines were pretty small considering.
The destination wasn’t really the point anyway. The day was all about getting there and back. My little girl is growing up.
She loved the ride and wasn’t scared at all. She was so unconcerned for her safety that she fell asleep on the way back home. I realized she stopped moving back there and so I asked how she was doing. I knew what was happening when she didn’t respond. My Dad rode up beside me and confirmed her little snooze. We took the next exit and got her a bottle of cold milk at the convenience store. That did the trick and we made the rest of the trip with eyes wide open.
Silver Dollar City wasn’t that great. It took us two hours to get there from Springfield and that was using the High Road (Highway 476). Mostly the day was spent waiting in lines. Waiting to get there. Waiting an hour to eat. Waiting in line for rides, although those lines were pretty small considering.
The destination wasn’t really the point anyway. The day was all about getting there and back. My little girl is growing up.
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2 comments:
That sounds like a great daddy/daughter bonding time.
do not just push your daughter on the bike down the hill and let her crash on her own until she gets it. This is what my father did for me. It worked for my sister, but I must have a lower pain threshold because it did not work at all for me. I don't think I learned to ride a bike until I was 8 or 9. For the mother of the 8 year old who wants her daughter to start riding: one thing that might help is that this process with the gentle, grassy slope, etc. can work so well that she can be riding without those training wheels within an hour. And once she gets it, she'll be off and no stopping her. Good luck.
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